The Next Giant Leap

How we can solve resource scarcity and climate

change to build a better world

Cameron MacPherson
The Next Giant Leap

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Copyright 2020. Cameron MacPherson. All rights reserved.

Print Edition 1.1 (full-color ink)

ISBN: 9798610551494

Important Notes:
The Next Giant Leap is a work published over several mediums: print, electronic
document and online at https://nextgiantleap.org. A free companion PDF in full
color is available at https://nextgiantleap.org/ngl.pdf

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printed in greyscale ink may contain graphics that are not as clear as full-color
versions. In such cases, please download the free companion PDF at
https://nextgiantleap.org/ngl.pdf, consult the free online copy at
https://nextgiantleap.org/universal-energy or purchase a print copy in color at
https://nextgiantleap.org/print-copy

As this version is intended for American audiences, all units of measure

included for general explanation are imperial. Units of measure for specific
figures in the Appendix and citations are in both imperial and metric notations.

For information on how to further support this project, please visit

https://nextgiantleap.org/support

For a changelog of major revision changes to this work, please visit

https://nextgiantleap.org/changelog

For more information about the author, please visit

https://cameronmacpherson.com

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The Next Giant Leap proposes solutions to resource scarcity and climate change.
It outlines blueprints for a system – Universal Energy – that can accomplish this
task by deploying the best energy technologies we have available into a
framework that’s designed to work cooperatively from the ground-up.

Universal Energy’s purpose is to revolutionize how we power our civilization and

acquire resources, while at the same time heal the widespread environmental
damage humanity has inflicted on our planet.

Developed to remove the limitations of scarcity, resource conflict and need,

Universal Energy is software for the great challenges of our time and a platform
to build our civilization to greater heights.

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Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final
sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not
clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its
laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.

The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30
cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two
fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement. We pay for a
single fighter with a half-million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with
new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people.

This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it
is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.

– President Dwight D. Eisenhower. April 16, 1953.

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Table of Contents
A Future Worth Having p. 13
Chapter One: Mindset p. 35
Chapter Two: The Renewable Revolution p. 47
Chapter Three: A Tale of New Cities p. 71
Chapter Four: The Thorium Backbone p. 81
Chapter Five: Water and Hydrogen p. 133
Chapter Six: Cogeneration p. 145
Chapter Seven: The National Aqueduct p. 159
Chapter Eight: The World’s Largest Battery p. 173
Chapter Nine: Everybody Eats p. 183
Chapter Ten: Materials and Recycling p. 201
Chapter Eleven: The End of Resource Scarcity p. 227
Chapter Twelve: Advanced Infrastructure p. 241
The Next Giant Leap p. 271

Appendix: p. 285

A1: Universal Energy Implementation Strategy p. 287

A2: Collective Capitalism p. 295
A3: Revenue Allocations p. 307
A4: Universal Energy Cost Estimate p. 315
A5: Citation Policy p. 335
A6: Source Policy p. 337
A7: Retraction Policy p. 341
A8: Copyright Policy p. 343
Special Thanks p. 345
Cited Facts and Sources p. 347

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Once we realize we deserve a bright future, letting go of our dark past is the best choice
we ever make.

- Roy T. Bennett

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A Future Worth Having

I’d like to ask you a question: when was the last time you felt great about the
world? Not the last time you were in a good mood or something happened to
brighten your day, but the last time you were truly hopeful for our future. The
last time you believed, legitimately, that tomorrow will be better than days past.
When was the last time you could say that? For most of us, I bet it’s been a while.

It seems that most everywhere we look today, our future seems destined for
darker times. Even if the polar ice caps weren’t melting before our eyes,1 our
planet’s biodiversity wasn’t rapidly going extinct by our hand2 and wildfire
wasn’t laying waste to rainforests,3 vast geographical regions4 and entire nations,5
our time is still deeply imperiled. Representative democracies are waning
worldwide against the rise of populist, authoritarian nationalism.6 Multicultural
societies are facing crises of conscience in the face of mass migration from strife
and conflict.7 Partisan division and rampant misinformation have sown seeds of
enmity throughout our social fabric.8 The long peace9 threatens to unravel as the
drumbeats of brinkmanship10 and war begin to sound progressively louder.11 And
that’s just what’s on the news.

Yet the most serious reasons our horizon grants cause for alarm are rooted deeper,
into something more structural, and ultimately, something more fateful. To
explain why, we’ll take a brief step back and afford ourselves a high-level view of
where we stand at present.

Radiological dating tells us definitively that the first page of the human story
began at least 200,000 years ago.12 From the moment we made our first steps, it
took us nearly that entire length of time to reach a population of 1.5 billion people
– a milestone achieved around 1900.13 Yet barely a century later in 2010, we
reached seven billion people, and we’re well on track to hit ten billion by 2050.14

As it’s difficult to put those numbers in perspective, the following figures help
establish a more succinct context:

Our approximate time to reach 1.5 billion people: 200,000 years.

Our approximate time to grow from 1.5 billion to 7 billion people: 110 years.
Our estimated time to grow from 7 billion to 10 billion people: 38 years.

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This chart shows humanity’s population growth since height of Rome:

In the image below, each of the 2,000 rectangles equals one century. The blue
rectangles, in aggregate, represent the entire length of time it took humanity to reach
1.5 billion people. The lone black rectangle (last) represents the time it took
humanity to grow from 1.5 billion to 7 billion people.

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This growth – and the rise of the civilizations that encompassed within – has been
powered exclusively by natural resources. As our population has rapidly
expanded, so too has our rate of resource consumption – far past the thresholds
that spawned Thomas Malthus’ Principle of Population and the 1970’s-era Limits to
Growth – famous publications forecasting the dangers of rapid population
expansion and its accompanying over-extraction of resources.15-16 Our population
as of 2020 has increased sevenfold from Malthus’ time, and is today twice the
population of the 1970’s. Consequently, we are now consuming resources so
rapidly and on such an immense scale that it’s destroying our planet’s ability to
support our existence. In a world of sensationalist media, such a claim might seem
exaggerative. In the world of facts, it’s an understatement.

A short list frames our circumstances in sobering perspective:

1. Since the start of the Industrial Revolution, we’ve cut down more than
half of the world’s forests.17

2. Plant and animal species are dying off so rapidly that global scientific
bodies conclude that humanity has caused Earth’s sixth great extinction
event,18 which has the potential to wipe out millions of years of
evolutionary history.19

3. Global fish stocks are overexploited by 80%,20 and ecologists predict they
may collapse entirely by as early as 2048.21

4. Ocean acidification is occurring at a rate not seen in the last 300 million
years and Earth is estimated to have lost half of its shallow corals in the
past three decades.22 If current trends continue, this figure is estimated to
rise to 90% by 2050.23

5. Between 1970 and 2014, Earth saw a 60% decline of its mammal, bird, fish,
reptile and amphibian species – almost exclusively due to human
activity.24 Since the dawn of our civilization, humanity has destroyed 83%
of all mammalian life on Earth.25 Of the mammalian life that remains, 96%
are either human or livestock.26 A scant 4% is all that’s left in the wild.27

The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity

and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) released a report in March, 2019 concluding that
human activity is destroying nature at an “unprecedented rate,” which is

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“eroding the very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security and
quality of life worldwide.”28 Its noteworthy highlights include:29

• Approximately 60 billion tons of renewable and non-renewable resources

are globally extracted annually – twice the rate of extraction from 1980.

• Plastic pollution has increased tenfold since 1980, with 300-400 million
tons of heavy metals, solvents, toxic sludge and industrial waste dumped
annually into global water systems.

• Worldwide, pollinator loss risks upwards of $577 billion in agriculture

every year.

• 75% of Earth’s land environments and 66% of Earth’s marine

environments have been significantly altered by human actions, and since
1992 the world’s urban areas have doubled in size.

• More than a third of Earth’s land surface and nearly 75% of freshwater
resources are now consumed by agriculture and livestock.

• Up to 1 million of the estimated 8 million plant and animal species on

Earth are at risk of extinction, many of them within decades.

As humanity is inexorably tied to Earth’s ecology, these crises alone present major
risks to our long-term survival. But this problem is more complex than simple
extraction, pollution and waste. Take fresh water, for instance.

As 85% of humanity lives on the driest half of the planet,30 2.4 billion people today
lack access to clean water – and half of the world’s population lacks access to the
quality of water available to ancient Rome.31 The United Nations estimates that
by 2025 more than two billion people will live in conditions reflecting absolute
water scarcity and five billion people will live in conditions reflecting extreme
water stress,32 thresholds indicating life-risking lack of access to our most vital
resource.33 That’s respectively between 30% and 70% of the planet. The
international body further estimates that global fresh water demand between now
and 2050 will increase by 55%34 with demand exceeding supply by more than 30%
by 2040.35 Private investment forecasts are similar, as Goldman Sachs estimates
that global fresh water consumption is doubling every 20 years.36

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To see what this looks like in practical terms, consider the Aral Sea, which was
once the 4th largest lake in the world. In 1960, the body of water had a surface area
of 26,300 square miles (68,000 km2) and a volume of 254 cubic miles (1,080 km3).37
For comparison, that is 4,000 square miles larger than Lake Michigan by surface
area and nearly two and a half times larger than Lake Erie by total volume.38 Yet
in a timespan of just 35 years, the Aral Sea was depleted to become what is now
known as the Aralkum Desert that comprises the borders of its eastern basin.39

The Aral Sea falling victim to unsustainable resource extraction and

overconsumption40 is not an outlier. It’s part of a consistent trend. As our water
needs have increased alongside worsening global drought conditions, we’ve
needed to tap water from aquifers – large sources of groundwater that slowly
replenish from soil absorption over time. Consequently, most of them today are
being depleted faster than their ability to recover.41

Data from NASA satellites show that 21 of the world’s 37 aquifers have passed
their sustainability tipping points, meaning they will eventually run dry if current
circumstances continue.42 Aquifers supply 35% of global water use, and they are
among the last reliable sources of fresh water we have left.43 California is already

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tapping aquifers for up to 60% of its water supply, and climate scientists expect
aquifers will be relied upon to even greater extents in the future.44

Colorado’s NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research) recently released

a series of climate maps that model the future degree of global drought and
desertification based on current trends. They aren’t meant to be exact predictions
as far too many factors influence climate and drought, nor do they incorporate
the possibility of human activities worsening in terms of unsustainable extraction
and ecological destruction. They only model drought and desertification if our
direction remains unchanged, visualized from year 2000 to 2099.45

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Should these models prove accurate, even fractionally, it risks the survival of
billions of people – saying nothing of supporting an ecosystem, nor the conflicts
spawned by such circumstances – and even wealthy nations will face major
complications to life as they know it.46

If that wasn’t bad enough, a substantial portion of our remaining fresh water
supplies are too toxic for human consumption. Industrial contamination, for
example, has rendered 60% of Chinese rivers unusable for drinking, bathing or
agriculture according to data published by the Chinese Ministry of Water
Resources.47 That figure rises to 70% when it comes to Chinese lakes and 80%
when it comes to wells that source groundwater – 90% when that groundwater is
sourced near cities.48

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Another example is India. Upwards of 50% of the country faces extremely high
water stress according to a World Resources Institute study.49 The study found
that Indian drought conditions have become so severe that 330 million people –
greater than the population of the United States – are living in a dust bowl. The
situation has become so dire that the nation's coal-fired power plants are shutting
down as there’s not enough water to generate steam – with armed guards being
posted at dams to prevent water theft from desperate farmers.50

A recent report by WaterAid, an international organization promoting greater

water sanitation and hygiene, estimates that 80% of India’s surface water is
severely polluted and contaminated with water-borne disease.51 A
separate report from India's Centre for Science and Environment estimates that
roughly 80% of Indian sewage flows untreated into its rivers, and that out of 8,000
towns surveyed by a pollution control board, only 160 had both functioning
sewage systems and a sewage treatment plant.52

India and China’s population, combined, represent 35% of humanity.

This is all before the impact of climate change, a factor that by itself adds massive
gravity to our current state of affairs. As extensive lobbying and campaign
“contributions” from the fossil fuel industry have turned the looming crisis into
a political issue,53 the basic principle that more carbon in the atmosphere leads to
a warmer climate has been undermined by disingenuous partisan dismissals.54

While this has hindered

effective policy measures
to reverse course, the rapid
increase in global
temperatures, accelerating
loss of polar ice, increased
frequency and severity of
droughts, wildfires, floods,
and other natural disasters
have evaporated any
doubts held in good faith
as to the validly of the
warnings echoed by the
nigh-unanimous majority of the scientific community.55 (Chart source.56)

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Carbon Dioxide Emissions Since 1850-Present (gigatonnes):

Image Source.57

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Global Average Temperature Difference from 1850, projected until 2025 (°C)

Image source.58

Global Average Temperatures, 1900–2015 (°F)

Image source.59

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Rate of Temperature Change in the United States, 1900-2015

Image source.60

Image source.61

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Change in Arctic Ice Size and Age from 1984-2018

Image source.62

Yet the ecological consequences of a warming climate have greater fallout to our
society. Their impact on trade, security, economy, public health and mass-
migration all have worldwide implications.63 The global food supply, however,
remains perhaps the most imperiled. As water (and oil)64 are vital to both
producing and transporting food, their scarcity alone would substantially disrupt
our ability to feed our growing world. Climate change makes that task inexorably
harder, and substantially more expensive.

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Between 2006 and 2008, global average food prices rose 107% for soybeans, 136%
for wheat and 217% for rice.65 A 2010 study by the International Food Policy
Research Institute estimated that the price of corn, wheat and rice will rise by at
least 60% by 2050.66 A 2012 report by Oxfam – one of the largest humanitarian
charities in the world – estimates that by year 2030, food prices will rise 107% for
rice, 120% for wheat and 177% for corn compared to their baseline price in 2010.67
Oxfam’s report stated further that:

“While prices could double by 2030, the modeling suggests that one or more extreme
events in a single year could bring about price spikes of comparable magnitude to two
decades of projected long-run price increases.”68 (Emphasis mine)

We must also contend with the fact that precious little of our situation is aided by
the realpolitik of our time. The United States has been at war for the past eighteen
years as conflicts continue and self-perpetuate over much of the globe. Faith in
the promise of globalization and global institutions has retreated in many of the
western cultures that gave them life. With more than 65 million people displaced
around the world currently, millions of refugees are arriving in other nations as
unwelcome aliens.69 The storms brewing on our near horizon don’t present
mitigating effects to this dynamic, they’re potent accelerants. Humanity has never
before seen what happens when several hundred million people migrate in
desperation – and these circumstances stand to impact billions of lives. If current
trends continue, few doubts remain that our future may bear such witness.

By themselves, any one of these problems are calamitous – be it ecological

collapse, unsustainable resource extraction, climate change, or the accompanying
risks to the global food supply and mass migration that comes with all of the
above. Yet none of them exist in vacuums. Their arrival is in unison, and they are
manifesting today – and worsening – with combined effect.70 Even a casual
observation could see how their results risk spawning humanitarian crises and
breakdowns in social order that could fundamentally compromise the global
economy and the state of global security.

As we saw in early 2020, COVID-19, a novel respiratory virus, brought the world
to its knees. Foreign and domestic supply chains were stretched so far past their
breaking points that it became effectively impossible for developed nations to
source even basic household items like bleach, hand sanitizer and toilet paper –
let alone medical necessities such as masks, ventilators and hospital intubation

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equipment. Our social functions were pummeled to a standstill, and even first-
rate healthcare systems were overwhelmed to the point of paralysis.

This was the result of a single infection with a relatively low fatality rate. When we
consider what might happen if a billion people were to run out of food or water?
Or if climate change were to displace hundreds of millions of people? Or if Earth’s
ecology collapsed alongside its ability to support humanity’s existential
foundations? It’s hard to overstate the danger any one of these events would
present to our social order and our logistical capabilities to deftly respond to
crises. Yet the simple math of our situation shows that the likelihood of each these
results coming to pass – in unison – increases as long as current trends persist.

This reality exposes a fundamental truth of human nature and the actions of
nations: of the motives that cause us to take up arms against one another, few, if
any, are greater than resource scarcity and the economic damage caused as a
result.71 As individuals, people may fight over any number of reasons, be it
religion, nationalism, identity or pride – but nations aren’t driven by causes so
fickle.72 Nations are driven by the resources that sustain their existential basis –
the resources that power the vast unseen functions which enable a modern,
interconnected society. And should they not manifest in either perception or
reality, the uncompromising nature of need beats the drums of war to unleash the
horror that follows. Most every conflict, occupation or atrocity on a large scale
can be attributed to this fact.73 The entirety of human history, even if varnished
through a rose-colored sheen, provides a bitter testimony.

What might ultimately result from the combination of these circumstances is of

course not yet known. Yet what remains known is that the darkest examples of
human nature manifest in times of ecological, geopolitical or economic strife.74
Further known is the possession of at least 15,000 nuclear weapons in the hands
of nine countries – thousands of which can be launched in minutes.75

Some macabre trivia: a single Ohio-class United States Navy submarine is capable
of raining thermonuclear warheads on as many as 288 targets within a range of
7,000 miles – each with 2,500% greater destructive power than the atomic bomb
dropped on Nagasaki.76 The U.S. Navy has fourteen of such submarines. The
Russians, Chinese, French, British, Indians and Israelis77 each have their own, and
that’s on top of the land-based missiles and aircraft that can be used to deliver
thousands of nuclear munitions to any corner of the globe within an hour or less.78

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There are fewer than 4,500 cities on the planet with more than 150,000 people.79
Humanity possesses an equivalent of four nukes for each.80

It’s a hardened truism that society is intimately acquainted with prophecies of

doom. It’s also true that people have been harking about things “going to hell in
handbaskets” since we had words for either. Fear sells. That’s why the boy cries
wolf – a lesson well-known to any politician, theologian or journalist worth their
title. And when dark nights eventually turn to dawn and there remains no wolf
to be seen, we become numb to future bells tolling its arrival.

Yet the quintessential point of the fable is that the wolf does one day arrive, to
either be defeated or devoured by. That day is now.

The multitude of problems facing our future place the foundations of our
civilization in existential peril. The continued survival of not only our way of life,
but our very species and the planet we call home is incumbent on their solution.
Our hands, in our time, are tasked with either developing that solution, or failing
to. Failure in this context is not quantified by a loss of money, power, prestige or
reputation. It’s quantified by the immolation of our civilization as we know it.
The extinction of Earth’s natural beauty. And, ultimately, the ashes of what we
love and hold dear. That is the stone-cold reality of our present state of affairs.

But The Next Giant Leap wasn’t written to bow to that reality. It was written to
change it. And it starts with a story of technology.

Ever since we invented machines that could perform at greater levels of speed
and precision than human hands, we’ve rapidly increased our capabilities to
build advanced systems: jet aircraft, smartphones, supercomputers, satellites and
spaceships. And while these capabilities have caused problems, they can derive
even greater solutions.

Because of technology, billions have been brought out of poverty, devastating

diseases have been eradicated, vast distances have been spanned, veritable
wonders have been built, and transformational new ways to process and
communicate information have been developed.

Indeed, as you read this, a single smartphone-wielding bartender in Mombasa,

Kenya today has instantaneous access to a wealth of information the world’s

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governments, universities and corporations combined didn’t have when The

Simpsons first aired.

Technology made all of this possible. Yet we’ve now reached the point where
sophisticated systems – systems which, thirty years ago, took millions of dollars
and months to build – can be inexpensively manufactured on automated
assembly lines in hours. This capability has been extended to cutting-edge
aircraft, advanced electronics, even large-scale infrastructure. But it can now also
be extended to energy-generating systems of all forms – small modular power
plants, systems for energy transfer, large-scale storage and energy management,
mass-produced wind turbines and solar panels – enabling us to generate energy
on far higher scales than was ever before possible.

But what if we took things a step further? What if instead of just mass-producing
energy technologies, we also built them to work together by design? In the era of
the smartphone or smart car, why not have a smart power plant or smart power
grid? And, having done that, what happens if we apply all of the technological
advancements we’ve recently made within and outside of energy generation, and
combine them into one intelligent system for energy and resource production that
can be easily scaled and deployed worldwide?

We don’t yet have a system today that can answer these questions. So, we’re going
to take the opportunity to build one that can – right here, in this book.

The Next Giant Leap outlines blueprints for a system to solve resource scarcity and
climate change. This system is called “Universal Energy” and it is an open-source
framework of the best energy technologies we have available, designed to work
together in a way that makes them greater than the sum of their parts in terms of
output, efficiency and flexibility. As a framework, Universal Energy is designed
to be deployed rapidly on a large scale to turn the tide against the ecological,
climate and resource problems of our time. Its goal is to shift the foundations of
how we generate energy to in turn shift the foundations for how we acquire and
distribute resources – and, in the process, permanently erase the concepts of
scarcity and need.

As the underlying conceptual structure for a system, frameworks apply in varied

contexts, but their greatest applications are in software. In software, frameworks
are virtual tools that enable integrated, cooperative deployments of different
technologies in a way can be both flexible, modular and standardized. They’re

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what made 0’s and 1’s into the interconnected world we live in today. Software
can be developed and applied for the ever-better management of data, goods,
currency, ecosystems and even people. It can also do the same for energy and
resources in a new paradigm of global abundance.

Universal Energy’s DNA is software for energy generation and resource

production through an indefinitely scalable method. By heavily leveraging
sophisticated mass-production and modular, standardized deployment
strategies, this approach allows us to lower the price of energy to the extent where
it becomes feasible, for the first time in our history, to synthetically produce
critical resources on an effectively unlimited scale. No matter how much energy
or resources are consumed, the system can always produce more at a rate higher
than that of consumption – a feature by design.

This framework is environmentally friendly.

This framework is affordable.
This framework is sustainably powered.
This framework is built with technologies that can exist today.

And, this framework can be deployed anywhere in the world to functionally end
resource scarcity – and do so with finality.

If we can unchain ourselves from the eternal problem of resource scarcity and the
untold human potential it consumes, it frees up the immense resources devoted
to extinguishing its fires within a scarcity-dominated world. We can then invest
those resources in social advancement and ecological healing, powering a
perpetually ascendant course. This wouldn’t cost us more, and would ultimately
cost us less – not just in terms of money, but also in terms of focus.

If we are no longer forced to surf a never-ending tsunami of social maladies, we

can devote greater attention to improving our lives and human civilization as a
whole, solving long-vexing problems and addressing humanitarian crises that
have plagued us for millennia.

With the technologies behind Universal Energy and the framework they power,
we can change the world.

And we can build it better, stronger and brighter than before.

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Universal Energy

FRAMEWORK

1. An essential supporting structure of a system, building or idea.

2. A foundation underlying a concept, philosophy or mindset.

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You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a
new model that makes the existing model obsolete.

- R. Buckminster Fuller

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Chapter One: Mindset

Since the dawn of human time, civilization and resources have been inexorably
linked, powering and making possible every part of our existence. As our
existence has evolved and expanded, so too have our needs, making resources
ever-more critical for the advanced, global societies we seek to continue building.

Resources have been the key to nearly every social and technological
advancement we have ever achieved, and resource scarcity has conversely been
the cause of major problems both in the past and in our time today. Throughout
history, the societies and nations of mankind have all attempted to mitigate
scarcity through varied constructs: laws and social policies; ideologies and
political movements; technological innovations; the rewriting of borders; and,
ultimately, war. Yet these approaches have almost universally sought to avoid
resource scarcity by addressing its varied symptoms – rarely, if ever, have they
dealt with the core problem itself.

It is for that reason why I believe they have failed.

A true solution doesn’t cure the symptoms. It cures the disease. In the case of
resource scarcity, our cure comes from technology – and more importantly, how
we can use it.

Technology provides the solution to resource scarcity because it allows us to

extract resources more efficiently and with less expense. It also allows us to
advance the means in which we acquire resources in terms of scale, sophistication
and potential. Over time, we have developed and depended on technology to
solve resource scarcities – which has led to breakthroughs that have changed the
world, even if we didn’t realize it at the moment.

For example:

• The years following WWII gave rise to the threat of the first global
resource crisis: food scarcity. Humanity was rapidly expanding in
population and feeding the planet was becoming progressively more
difficult. This crisis was detailed in The Limits to Growth,81 a 1971 paper that

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predicted catastrophic consequences for humanity should it fail to curb

population expansion. These predictions were well-reasoned, yet they
never came to fruition. Why not? Technology came to the rescue through
industrialized farming techniques, high-performance fertilizers and
genetically modified crops, all of which increased food production to the
extent that Earth now supports 7.5 billion people and counting – twice the
population of when The Limits to Growth was published.

• In the 1800s, aluminum was extremely rare, considered to be one of the

most valuable metals in the world.82 Today we throw it in waste
receptacles. What made the difference? A method called electrolysis,
which allowed us to inexpensively extract aluminum from its naturally
occurring form, bauxite.83 This method made aluminum extraction easy
and inexpensive, dropping its cost to almost nothing. (Next time you
throw away that soda can, though, realize that not 150 years ago it was
worth its weight in silver.)

• The need to obtain water by traveling to a location and carrying it back

used to be a massive time expenditure for everyone within society, a
problem that still exists within much of the developing world. Yet for the
developed world, the invention of modern plumbing brought water to us
on-demand. This collectively saved people trillions of hours in free time
and removed a major impediment to cascading economic growth.

• Sugarcane was introduced to Mediterranean regions around the 7th

century and thereafter remained a major luxury commodity. As a valuable
cash crop, sugar was heavily taxed and was a revenue source for
government, making it a driver of the slave trade. Yet when technology
introduced the steam engine and methods of vaporization in the late
1800s, the cost to refine sugar plummeted to less than 5% of its former
price.84

In each of these examples, a once-scarce resource was made both abundant and
inexpensive as a function of technology, for technology has the unique ability to
expand the scale of resource production while also lowering costs. But in the past,
technology only really improved our ability to extract resources that were
naturally present – and, over time, extraction has proven to be unsustainable as
our natural resource supplies eventually dwindle. But what if we shifted gears to
develop systems that could instead synthesize resources at scale?

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 The Next Giant Leap

For the first time in history, that’s a capability we now possess today.

The past three decades have seen transformational breakthroughs in several

critical industries. Information technology has been transformed by the advent of
high-performance computing at low cost, which alongside similar advances in
networking, has ushered in an unprecedented capability to collaborate on state-
of-the-art initiatives with sophisticated virtual modeling. It’s further enabled to-
the-second global logistics and a degree of operational reliability that would have
been unthinkable even twenty years ago. Polymer and material sciences have
been transformed through the creation of synthetic substances that rival hardened
steel in strength at a fraction of its mass, yet also present revolutionary benefits in
terms of conductivity and flexibility of form.85 Large-scale manufacturing can
now rapidly build complex machinery on assembly lines at a level of precision
that would have been nigh-impossible until the latest decades of our modern era.
Combined, these advances allow us to engineer and manufacture solutions to
problems on much larger scales than ever before.

To put this in perspective, most nuclear power plants in the United States were
built between 1970 and 1990.86 That means a good deal of them were designed
and built without the aid of a calculator.87 The same is true with other types of power
plants and larger-scale social infrastructure. Yet today, we have the capability to
design a power plant on a computer and build it on an assembly line – much as
we build a toaster.

To be sure, we can build many things with these increased capabilities. But the
starting point is to build a system that can sustainably produce resources. And
not just any resources, but the five most critical:

WATER, FOOD, ELECTRICITY, FUEL AND

BUILDING MATERIALS.

Above all else, these are the most important resources for our civilization to
operate. Without water, nothing grows and nothing lives. Without food, we
starve. Electricity is the currency of capability and information, and is the glue
that holds our modern social framework intact. Fuel provides high-density
energy in standalone contexts where electricity is not present, and building
materials enable us to advance, repair and extend the infrastructure that enables
our civilization to flourish.

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 The Next Giant Leap

These are the resources that are most essential to powering our advanced
economies, and these are the resources most likely to spark conflict when they
become scarce.88

The purpose of Universal Energy is to act as this resource-producing system, and

it works by leveraging three critical concepts: standardization, modularity and, with
these two in place, cogeneration.

Standardization, in this case, is a way of building something to a universal standard

that’s adopted society-wide. (For example, all of your electronic devices are
charged by connecting a standardized type of plug into a standardized type of
wall outlet.) Modularity is simply a way of deploying something that features the
ability to rapidly change configuration or scale using a standardized means (think
Legos™ that enable you to build whatever you like, a model city or model ship,
with pieces that connect to each other in the exact same way).

Standardization and modularity allow us to take a technology and deploy it in a

way that can be mass-produced, providing easy replacement of parts and driving
down costs. Recent advances in technology enable us to apply these concepts on
larger scales, especially within energy generation.

Our energy infrastructure today (and, by extension, our civilization as a whole) is

powered by a hodgepodge of sources: oil, coal, solar, wind, uranium, natural gas,
geological heat, hydroelectric, corn ethanol, and biomass.89 Few of these energy
production systems work with each other,90 they barely even talk to one another.91
And they are all implemented ad-hoc, meaning they were designed and built to
order as unique systems with only minimal standardization and even less
modularity in design. Each may reflect compliance with relevant building codes,
but unlike most every other sophisticated product in our society – no one power
plant is identical to another.

These factors make power-generating systems highly expensive to build and

operate. It further prevents us from rapidly scaling them in size or extent of
deployment, which limits the volume of energy available and thus raises its price.

There is a better way.

By designing the technologies within Universal Energy to incorporate modularity

and standardization, we can leverage the concept of cogeneration, which is to use

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 The Next Giant Leap

the waste energy of one technology to power something else. For example:
diverting the waste heat energy from a coastal power plant to power a nearby
facility that desalinates seawater into fresh water. Desalination is presently a
costly and energy-intensive process,92 yet when it’s powered primarily by waste
energy, energy requirements and costs drop drastically.

Each technology within the Universal Energy framework is designed to easily

connect and work cooperatively with others from the ground up, while
maintaining the ability to rapidly scale in size on-demand. This empowers us to
push the bounds of cogeneration, allowing our energy infrastructure to efficiently
produce both energy and resources in the same footprint. This will do to energy
and resource production what technology has done to most other consumer
products: increase availability, lower prices, and advance quality over time.

The essential part to making this approach successful is identifying technologies

that can generate energy in the way we need them to, which we’ll define as
meeting the following criteria:

1. The technology must be able to generate immense energy at low cost. In

order to synthesize enough resources to satisfy all of our requirements,
we’ll need to generate an effectively unlimited supply of energy. This
means that energy will always be regenerated at a rate faster than that of
consumption, regardless of how much energy is consumed. This
requirement will set an initial target of 300% of annual electricity
consumption in the U.S. (3,860 terawatt-hours as of 2018),93 coming to a
total of 12.5 trillion kilowatt-hours generated annually. (If you’re a little
unfamiliar as to what a “kilowatt-hour is,” there is a helpful guide next
chapter).

The cost of this energy is intended to be no more than two cents per
kilowatt-hour, down from today’s 10.53-cent average.94 Reaching this
target would provide enough energy at a low enough cost to allow large-
scale synthetic production of civilization’s five most critical resources. (For
those inclined, a detailed pricing model is included in this writing’s
Appendix on page 315).

2. The source of this energy must be abundant and sustainable. If an

energy source and its corresponding extraction methods aren’t
sustainable available after widespread adoption, we’ll eventually find
ourselves in the same position we’re in now. As such, any technology we

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 The Next Giant Leap

employ within the Universal Energy framework will need to be long-term

viable, quantified for our purposes to be 1,000 years or longer.

3. The technology must be safe and environmentally friendly. The energy

production system, its fuel, and any waste must have negligible
environmental impact and must further be carbon-neutral, meaning it
does not emit carbon dioxide or methane which adversely impacts climate
change. Additionally, it must not leave toxic waste that cannot be
rendered inert in 300 years or less.

4. The technology must be affordable to develop and use. Whatever

benefits are brought by advances in energy technology will be irrelevant
if they are not affordable, presenting the requirement for all energy-
generating systems to have a realistic price tag.

5. The technology must be flexible in where it can be located. There are

already energy technologies that can fit the previous four requirements,
but many can only function in limited areas and thus cannot be deployed
in areas that are geographically remote and/or have rugged terrain.
Universal deployability is vital for a modular and standardized energy
framework.

6. The technology must be deployable rapidly. Considering the state of the

world today, the solution to resource scarcity and climate change needs to
get here soon. If we don’t have these problems solved in the next 20-30
years, other solutions may not matter in the end.

Universal Energy meets these requirements through a strategic deployment of

five technologies: solar, wind, thorium and hydrogen, all interconnected through
a revolutionary use of water. But before we see how they all function and work
together in-depth, here’s an overview of Universal Energy’s intended
deployment:

Integrated Renewables – The energy potential presented by renewable power is

revolutionary, yet common problems with its use today are expense, land
requirements, piecemeal deployment and material/carbon throughput in
manufacturing. Renewables may be adopted by individual businesses,
landowners or cities as they wish, but there’s not really a standardized method to
deploy them nationwide on a large scale. Yet integrating renewables within urban
municipal infrastructure – buildings, bridges, highway medians and road

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 The Next Giant Leap

canopies – gives us a unique location for installation that critically eliminates the
expense of buying additional land. Not only does this allow us to use the high costs
of constructing public infrastructure to offset the expenses of renewable energy –
it helps build a smarter and more resilient electric grid.

Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors (LFTR) – Thorium is a unique type of nuclear

fuel that avoids nearly all complications inherent to our current approach to
atomic power. Instead of uranium, which is traditionally enriched within highly
pressurized reactors, thorium generates energy as a high-temperature liquid
within advanced reactor designs that are not pressurized.

These reactors are far cleaner, far safer and more resistant to weaponization than
uranium reactors used today. Thorium is also abundant – about as common as
lead – which makes it thousands of times more sustainable than fuel-grade
uranium. The waste footprint of LFTRs is minimal and short-term, rendered safe
in decades as opposed to millennia. And because they can be built to small size
and don’t operate under pressure, they can cost a fraction of what other
approaches to atomic energy run. Just as importantly, they present a carbon-
neutral energy source to manufacture and recycle renewables (and supplemental
resources) on a large scale.

Water and Hydrogen – Our ability to extract fresh water and hydrogen fuel from
seawater is well-known to science and industry.95 The problem is that the process
has thus-far been energy-intensive and thus expensive. Using the near-unlimited
supply of inexpensive heat and electricity from thorium changes that, enabling us
to desalinate billions of gallons of seawater at minimal cost. Of this water,
Universal Energy devotes a portion to producing hydrogen fuel, with the
remainder being transported nationwide through another central component of
Universal Energy: The National Aqueduct.

The National Aqueduct – As a proposed nationwide delivery system for

desalinated seawater, the National Aqueduct also doubles as a power plant and
battery for renewable energy. Deployed alongside the pre-cleared and publicly
owned land at the sides of our highways and high-tension power lines, it would
be built via prefabricated, modular pipelines with embedded solar panels and
hydroelectric turbines – allowing these water pipelines to passively generate
immense levels of energy. Most critically, any excess energy generated by the
system can be used to keep billions of gallons of water at high temperature,
permitting us to use our fresh water supply as a giant “battery” by way of
converting heat energy into electricity (thermoelectric charge).

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 The Next Giant Leap

How It All Fits Together

Universal Energy harnesses the limitless potential of renewable energy and

significantly increases its utility by integrating it within public infrastructure to
both increase scale and reduce costs. Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors (LFTR)
are deployed second to safely provide an immensely powerful parallel source of
energy to complement renewables within a self-reinforcing framework. In doing
so, these reactors act as a base load energy backbone. They also work as integrated
power sources meant to desalinate seawater on a massive scale – a portion of
which is then used to produce hydrogen fuel. This desalinated water is then
pumped nationwide throughout the National Aqueduct, which further functions
as both a power source and an eco-friendly storage battery for renewable energy.

Combined, these technologies are designed to work together in a decentralized,

co-generating system that’s both modular and standardized – maximizing
efficiency, flexibility and reliability. With Universal Energy, our power network
isn’t built from piecemeal technologies that neither work together nor
communicate with one another; it’s instead designed to work in tandem from the
ground-up, dramatically increasing our capability to generate energy on a
nationwide scale at substantially lower cost. An open-source and indefinitely
extendable operating system for energy generation, one suited for the 21st century.

With this abundant supply of energy and water at our fingertips, we solve the
problems of resource scarcity. We can grow food indefinitely in indoor farming
networks near urban centers.96 These indoor farms can be extended further to
grow the organic substances needed to create sophisticated synthetic materials,
materials that can revolutionize how things are built and recycled.97 In aggregate,
Universal Energy gives us nigh unlimited supplies of energy, water, food,
electricity, fuel and building materials – enabling us thereafter to advance our
manufacturing capabilities and build our civilization to ever-greater heights in a
world spared of scarcity and need.

What About New Technologies?

As current technologies evolve and new ones emerge, the Universal Energy
framework will adapt to include them. The goal is to generate enough clean
energy at a low enough cost that we can inexpensively synthesize resources to
effectively unlimited scales at minimal environmental impact. Just as players

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 The Next Giant Leap

change roles in a football game, technologies will do the same within Universal
Energy. As an evolving framework, Universal Energy will update to reflect the
greatest available potential for clean energy generation.

The mindset behind Universal Energy and all it seeks to achieve is to rewrite the
rules of our existence by systematically dismantling the challenges that have held
us back since the dawn of time. If successful, we can position ourselves for a
future where humanity – us, our children, and generations hence – not only
survives on this planet, but permanently thrives. Where we can reach goals that
were never before achievable and bypass the limitations of resources as we once
knew them. The technical capability is here today. Universal Energy is how we
can make it real.

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The Next Giant Leap

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 The Next Giant Leap

The word “energy” incidentally equates with the Greek word for “challenge.” I think
there is much to learn in thinking of our federal energy problem in that light. Further, it
is important for us to think of energy in terms of a gift of life.

- Thomas Carr

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The Next Giant Leap

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 The Next Giant Leap

Chapter Two: The Renewable

Revolution

The Universal Energy framework starts with renewable energy. Not just because
it’s versatile and easily accessible, nor because it boasts a historically
unprecedented capability to generate energy from a truly unlimited source.
Rather, Universal Energy leverages renewables – specifically solar, wind and
artificial hydroelectric – because of their ability to both integrate within large-
scale infrastructure and power resource production as a municipal function.

This works across two areas of focus.

The first is the integration of solar and wind power directly within urban
infrastructure to remove the obstacles and cost limitations they face today. This is
a critically important distinction to our current approach towards these
technologies, which only comprise 10% of energy generation nationwide.98 While
the usual suspects99 in fossil energy lobbies certainly play a role in this,100 the
justified condemnation of their undue influence often glosses over the significant
logistical and economic challenges to implementing renewables over a large scale.
As we’ll see shortly, an integrational approach inherently avoids those challenges.

The second area of focus is The National Aqueduct, a vital function of Universal
Energy intended to transport desalinated water anywhere in the country by
piggybacking on the pre-cleared and largely publicly owned land of our interstate
highway system and high-tension power line networks. Further, the National
Aqueduct acts as both a power plant and a battery by deploying solar, wind,
hydroelectric and thermoelectric functions as a single system. The National
Aqueduct is detailed within Chapters Seven and Eight, but it’s useful to keep it
in mind as it’s referenced several times before then.

As Universal Energy seeks, by design, to bypass the challenges inherent to

renewable energy, we’ll take a minute to review these challenges and why they
stand in the way of a clean energy future.

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 The Next Giant Leap

Location and transmission. Electricity, like sound, weakens over distance due to
resistance in transmission mediums – in our case, power lines.101 As a general rule,
the farther electricity must travel, the harder it becomes to transmit. For example:
there is enough open space in the American southwest for solar panels to power
the entire planet.102 Yet transmitting electricity from the southwest to locations
thousands of miles away is both difficult and expensive. It’s possible to generate
the energy, but we can’t efficiently get it from point A to point B once we start
spanning large distances. Even if more efficient power lines emerged, they would
still cost millions of dollars to build per-mile.103 This means renewables are best
deployed in locations close to where their generated energy is consumed.

Deployment expense and physical space. Solar and wind power require
relatively large areas of land to be useful. Given that they are best deployed in
locations close to energy consumption, this presents a secondary problem: land
costs generally increase with population density. If land needs to be purchased
for installation, the cost effectiveness of renewables proportionally reduces the
closer they get to population centers.

While eco-conscious households and businesses can install renewables by choice,

that option becomes harder for governments and power companies when they
need to buy land at top dollar. So even as manufacturing costs of renewables
continue to fall,104 expenses of their start-to-finish implementation can remain
high, both fiscally and politically.

Lack of standardization and prefabrication. As with many fledgling industries,

our current approaches to solar and wind power remain unstandardized. Today,
solar panels have extensive sizing options and are designed to be installed on
varied locations: roofs, soil, rock, motorized platforms, etc. Wind turbines,
likewise, come in all shapes and sizes for both residential and commercial
applications. While flexibility in deployment is generally a good thing, there is
not yet a modular and standardized method to implement renewables on a
nationwide scale. This complicates the manufacturing of prefabricated, turnkey
systems, increasing end unit cost and limiting overall usability.

Material throughput. Renewables require large volumes of materials to

manufacture (10,000-17,000 metric tons per terawatt-hour),105 materials that
further need to be extracted, transported and processed in a carbon-emitting
supply chain. This manufacturing process also carries its own drawbacks in terms
of toxic waste.106 Absent a massive carbon-neutral baseload power source such as

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 The Next Giant Leap

thorium (outlined in Chapter Four), the large-scale manufacture and recycling of

renewable energy and the costs therein would present tremendous carbon
emissions and ecological toxicity – even if they themselves generate carbon-
neutral energy.

These obstacles have slowed down the adoption of renewable power nationwide,
and while advances in research and development have mitigated their impact to
various degrees, they still remain substantial. Universal Energy seeks to solve this
problem by targeting large-scale infrastructure for renewable deployment –
especially public infrastructure.

Public infrastructure is the ideal location to install renewables, as it solves four of

the five largest obstacles to their implementation: land, location, standardization
and scale, with thorium solving the fifth (carbon-neutral manufacturing).

Here’s why:

No need to buy land. Municipalities can install solar and wind on publicly owned
property by their own volition. They don’t need to submit bids or seek permission
to buy expensive private land – cities can simply use city funds to deploy
renewables on city-owned property to generate municipally provided electricity
as they deem fit.

Close to population centers. In most cases,

city-owned property tends to be close to
cities. Public infrastructure, then, zeroes
out the distance between generation and
consumption. No expensive power lines
need to be constructed, there is no need to
transport electricity over long distances.
And as advances in material science now
allow us to build solar panels that are
completely transparent (image to right), we don’t need to sacrifice aesthetics to
take this approach.

Think of the streets in your nearest city. The sides, windows and rooftops of every
public or government building, every highway overpass and bridge, and every
stadium built in part or full with public money; even privately-owned buildings.
Imagine all of this infrastructure integrated with solar panels from the moment

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 The Next Giant Leap

they were constructed – and all without spending so much as a nickel to buy extra
land for their deployment. This image shows only one section of one area of one city.

Now imagine every city in America taking this approach. Applying this mindset
across every municipality in the country gives us billions of square feet of surface
space to deploy renewables that’s both close to consumption and doesn’t require
us to buy expensive land.

Standardized manufacturing. Because renewables are so well-suited for large-

scale infrastructure, this affords opportunities to build systems that can be mass-
produced to a modular standard. Once you know exactly how something’s going
to be implemented, it removes variables that add to unit cost and complexity –
the end goal of any effective deployment strategy. That’s in part why several solar
companies likely choose rooftops as locations for residential solar deployment:
most homes have roofs. The following images show Tesla corporation’s solar
shingles, although several companies (RGS Energy, CertainTeed and SunTegra)
have released similar products to market.107

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 The Next Giant Leap

As these surfaces both retain the aesthetics of traditional roofing tiles while
boasting the functionality of solar panels, these companies identified a modular
standard to deploy solar panels and manufactured their products to that standard.
Yet they still require the personal investment of individual homeowners in order
to adopt them on a large scale. By integrating renewables within municipal
infrastructure, large-scale adoption can be accomplished with the stroke of a pen.
This incentivizes manufacturers to invest in renewable technologies that can be
built to a standard for wide and consistent deployment nationwide.

Aside from the National Aqueduct, Universal Energy looks to three general types
of large-scale infrastructure to deploy renewables. They include standing
structures, road medians, and road canopies, which we’ll review in depth after
taking a quick aside to make mention of some necessary assumptions.

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 The Next Giant Leap

A Quick Note:

The Next Giant Leap uses some terms surrounding energy that you might be a little
unfamiliar with. We’ll take a minute to explain these terms (and their use in some
basic arithmetic) more clearly to make it easier to grasp how Universal Energy
works.

Energy vs. Power: Power quantifies the potential amount of energy that could be
exerted in a given moment. Energy is the aggregate total of power exerted over time.
Both power and energy are denoted in “watts,” with power denoted in-moment
and energy over time. Watts is a metric unit of measure (1,000 watts = 1 kilowatt =
0.001 megawatt).

For example: if you turned on a 60-watt light bulb for ten seconds, that light bulb
would have had 60 watts of power flowing through it. Yet it consumed 600 watt-
seconds of energy (60 watts x 10 seconds). If it was on for an hour, it would have
consumed 60 watt-hours (3,600 watt-seconds). If it was on for one year (8,760
hours) it would have consumed a total of 525,600 watt-hours of energy. That’s
equivalent to 525.6 kilowatt-hours. At any given moment, though, it only had 60
watts of power flowing through.

Solar Power: In determining the effectiveness of solar power, we’re going to need
to establish some baselines so we’re measuring consistently. Solar panels vary in
size, sophistication and effectiveness, and there are several factors at play that
determine both.

Peak sun hours is a unit of measure for solar

panel generating capacity. It quantifies the
aggregate total of solar energy that reaches
a region in a day, denoted in hours of
maximum solar intensity. Let’s say the sun
shines for 13 hours a day over a region,
depending on the season. That solar
intensity may be equivalent to a certain
number of “peak sun hours” of the sun at its
maximum output (say at noon). Most
regions of the country are exposed to an annual average of between 4.5-5.5 peak
sun hours of solar energy per day. For our purposes here, we’ll split the middle
and assume a total of five peak sun hours per day when calculating for solar.

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 The Next Giant Leap

Solar panel output varies by sophistication, size, region and efficiency. So, we’ll
have to establish some assumptions based on the myriad solar options available.
The SunPower E20 solar panel is a solid quality solar panel available on the
market today. With a nominal power output of 327 watts, it is 61.4 inches wide
and 41.2 inches tall, coming to a surface area of about 17.5 square feet.108 That
translates to roughly 18.7 watts of power per square foot. Now let’s convert that
to energy. If we circle back to the energy vs. power section on the prior page, 18.7
watts of power exerted over an hour is measured as 18.7 watt-hours. Assuming
five peak sun hours in a day, that totals 93.5-watt hours generated per day.
Extrapolated over a calendar year, that totals 34,127.5 watt-hours.

Denoted in kilowatt-hours (the standard most energy is measured in), that comes
to 34.12 kilowatt-hours of energy generated per square foot, per year. To play it
safe, however, we’ll cut that figure by 10%, and estimate that one square foot of
solar panel surface can reliably generate 30 kilowatt-hours per year. As there are
27.88 million square feet in one square mile, we will conclude that one square mile
of solar panels would reliably generate 836.5 million kilowatt-hours in a year.

Assumption Totals:

One square foot of solar generates: 30 kilowatt-hours per year.

One square mile of solar generates: 836.5 million kilowatt-hours per year.

According to the Energy Information Administration as of 2017, the average U.S.

household consumes 10,400 kilowatt-hours per year.109

With these assumptions explained and these figures established, we’ll circle back
to the revolutionary benefits of integrated renewables and how they can help
build a clean energy future.

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 The Next Giant Leap

Standing Structures

Universal Energy’s first target for large-scale renewable deployment are standing
structures with a primary emphasis on solar power. As we’ve invented solar
panels that are both clear and visually unobtrusive, virtually any type of
construction can be harnessed to generate clean energy from the sun.

This approach is ideal when it comes to location for solar deployment: standing
structures are directly integrated within (and thus close to) population centers,
and, as such, don’t require the purchase of additional land that might otherwise
cost billions of dollars in aggregate. Further, in many cases, integrating solar can
be accomplished as a seamless upgrade of the building’s existing features.

As a base concept, this idea isn’t new. Rooftops have been outfitted with solar
panels since they were invented, and their use has increased as the costs of
renewable energy have dropped over time. But recent advances in manufacturing
and material science empower us to more deeply integrate solar into architectural
designs. Solar glass now allows buildings to replace exterior windows with
transparent solar panels. Solar-thermal HVAC uses excess solar energy to heat
water and the building itself, generating electricity while at the same time
slashing energy costs. Rooftop solar panels have never been cheaper, and for
residential applications, solar shingles give homeowners the ability to use solar
power with zero aesthetic sacrifice. Next-generation energy storage technologies
tie all of the above together in a reliable, closed-loop system – an important feature
that we’ll review later in this writing.

When applied to existing buildings on the scale of skyscrapers or large office

complexes, these advances can easily fractionalize energy use several times over
– if not turn commercial buildings into mini
power plants. To explain how, let’s circle back
to windows. Consider the skyscraper to the
left for a moment. Now imagine if every single
one of those windows were replaced with
solar glass – which again can be made
aesthetically identical to normal glass. Just for
one skyscraper, the energy potential would
exceed hundreds of thousands of kilowatt-
hours, even at moderate efficiencies – which would account for shadows or
cloudy days as solar still works under such conditions.110

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 The Next Giant Leap

According to SolarWindow, a leading manufacturer of solar glass for commercial

applications, a 50-story skyscraper in downtown Manhattan would generate 1.12
million kilowatt-hours annually if completely outfitted with solar windows
(equivalent to the annual electricity usage of 108 single-family homes).111 That
number would rise to 1.38 million annually in Denver, and rise further to 1.57
million in Phoenix.112 With present energy costs, the time it would take for each
of those installations to pay for themselves is estimated to be roughly one year.113
As solar glass can auto-tint based ambient brightness, the potential dividends for
insulation and indoor climate management can be extended further.

Functional prototypes of solar window glass:

A large building such as the skyscraper on the previous page could likely generate
more energy than it could reliably consume in a given day. What to do with this
extra energy? It could be held locally in municipal storage (including the National
Aqueduct), sold back to a local or municipal electric utility, or it could be diverted
directly into its heating and cooling system.

The image to the right shows a basic

diagram for a solar-thermal heating
system. In concept, excess solar
energy is used to heat water during
the day, which is kept warm in an
insulated storage tank. As water
holds its temperature better than
nearly any other substance, solar-
heated water stored in insulated
tanks dramatically reduces the need
to use oil or natural gas for building
heat. Notably, as solar panels are
most efficient at colder

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 The Next Giant Leap

temperatures,114 this can save companies significant sums through reduced

heating bills.

The benefits of upgrading existing buildings with solar windows and rooftop
arrays of solar power will be limited primarily by the construction of the
buildings themselves. To truly extend the capabilities of renewables on standing
structures, integration could be considered by design at the architectural stage.

The following image shows the circular headquarters for PAF, a gambling
management company owned and operated by the Finnish government. The
building is wrapped completely in solar panels.

Another example is the Solar Valley Micro-E hotel in Northwest China, designed
from the ground-up to maximize solar utility.

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 The Next Giant Leap

The Sanyo/Panasonic Solar Ark is a dual power plant and science museum
dedicated to solar energy. Made from factory-rejected solar panels, it generates
500,000 kilowatt-hours of energy per year.115

These examples of solar buildings are prototypes, and, with the exception of the
PAF headquarters in Finland, are initiatives undertaken by private companies.
But these buildings act as solid proofs-of-concept, giving us ideas with which we
can extend the integration of renewables within new structures.

Unlike passive solar design – an architectural trend from the 1970’s that attempted
to design structures that would naturally take advantage of solar energy without
the aid of mechanical equipment116 – the sophistication of today’s technology and
available commercial products in the renewable sector make “active solar
designs” more straightforward. Technology can provide solar shingles, solar
windows and solar walls at comparable or lower costs than fossilized energy
sources.117 Such technologies can further integrate through solar-enabled heating
and air conditioning systems within a building. Managing a system could be
accomplished through something as simple as a smartphone app.

Approaching architectural design with an eye to using active solar saves

significant sums of energy and money. According to the U.S. Energy Information
Administration, roughly 33% of a given commercial building’s total electricity use
was devoted to temperature control in 2012,118 consuming the equivalent of some
410 billion kilowatt-hours of power in aggregate. At a rate of 10 cents per kilowatt-
hour, that’s equivalent to $41 billion just for commercial HVAC costs – saying
nothing of the electricity costs to keep the lights on and run equipment.

Every building that adopts an active solar system avoids unnecessary energy
expenses and further presents less demand on the local electrical grid. Each

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building further helps create a cascading effect of increasing the amount of energy
generated while decreasing total energy consumption.

This cascading effect becomes important when other infrastructure is selected for
potential solar energy deployment. Take bridges for example.

The Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Tampa, for example, is 4.14 miles long (roughly
21,900 feet).119 If we were to assume an average of only 40’ of deployment surface
on each side of the 430-foot tall structure, the Skyway bridge would feature 1.75
million square feet of surface area that could be mounted with clear, aesthetically
unobtrusive solar panels. When we shortly consider the implications of solar road
canopies, the 94’ wide driving surface would add another 2.05 million square feet
of surface area to a total of 3.81 million.

As one square foot of solar panels can reliably generate 30 kilowatt-hours

annually in areas with solid sun exposure, the Skyway bridge could passively
generate 114 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year without having to buy
a single piece of land – enough to power nearly 11,000 homes.

Another promising example of usable infrastructure is the parking lot. Our nation
is littered with parking lots that are flat and open:

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As they’re dark in color, they absorb lots of heat, and anyone who drives in
summer knows full well that they turn cars to ovens – presenting serious safety
risks to children or pets left inside. This makes parking lots uniquely well-suited
for solar panels, a concept that’s been increasingly adopted as solar panel prices
have dropped.

Solar parking lots solve several problems at once. They generate electricity that
can be used to power the building that owns the lot; charge the electric cars of
customers or employees; or sell energy back to a local or municipal electric grid.
Solar canopies further provide shade that keeps cars cool. Across an urban
landscape, solar parking lots could generate a massive amount of electricity that
could further increase our total generating capacity (and thus supply) while
reducing demand from external energy sources.

Assuming a parking lot of 150,000 square feet (roughly equivalent to a local

Lowe’s),120 sticking to the figure of 30 kilowatt-hours of electricity generated per
square foot, per year, that parking lot would generate roughly 4.5 million
kilowatt-hours annually. If for sake of argument, the local Target, Home Depot,
Walmart, Costco and Sam’s all had the same footprint, the combined total would
be 27 million kilowatt-hours annually generated. That’s enough to power more
than 2,500 homes. It’s plain, then, to see how these numbers can add up quickly
over large areas of urban sprawl. This becomes even more true once road medians
and solar road canopies enter the equation.

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Road Medians

As one of the greatest publics works projects of the 20th century, highways
present uniquely attractive locations to install renewable energy. They’re
completely cleared of obstructions, and as they’re generally flat and straight, they
get extensive sun and wind exposure. They’re often close to cities, almost always
municipally owned, and easily accessible.

While roads themselves can also be extended to integrate solar power via
overhead canopies, highways often feature medians – unpaved barriers between
lanes of traffic (especially on city outskirts) – which are perfect locations to deploy
renewable energy. Like the highway itself, medians are usually municipally
owned as well. Yet they serve no functional purpose apart from separating
directional traffic. Additionally, they require constant maintenance (mowing,
landscaping, etc.), which comes with significant additional costs. So, why not
repurpose them for solar panels and wind turbines, solving two problems at
once? Japan, South Korea, China and The Netherlands have done exactly that:

In the case of South Korea, their solar road median also doubles as a covered bike
path for non-motorized commuters (image on top and on bottom-right).

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This approach provides several benefits. First, sun exposure is maximized.

Sunlight will reach panels from the moment the sun rises until the moment it sets
– and solar still works on cloudy days.121 Since highways span thousands of miles
in aggregate, the surface area presented by employing medians is tremendous –
surface area that’s within the ideal distance for maximum effectiveness of
renewables. This approach is also easy. Highway medians are common and
simple to access, yet serve little utility in their current form. Repurposing them as
solar farms creates massive utility by using publicly-owned land to generate
energy – land that would otherwise cost billions of dollars at fair market value.

Wind turbines can also be integrated with solar panels at regular intervals. They
cast minimal shadow, present no risk to motorists, and can complement electricity
generation twenty-four hours a day. The Enlil Turbine,122 for example, is designed
to be installed on highway medians to serve this exact purpose.

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Installing renewables within highway medians could be a simple extension of

municipal highway management. All a work crew would need to do to install,
repair or replace a deployment section is simply drive up and perform the
required work – just as they would with any road maintenance today. Power lines
could be run in modular conduit channels and connect to municipal electric grids.
The scale of implementation could be increased piecemeal, as funding allowed,
to be extended indefinitely so long as there is available median surface.

Just as importantly, as this energy is generated by the municipality, it can be sold

by the municipality – costing significantly less than if sold by a for-profit utility
company. This further provides an extra revenue stream which cities can use to
extend their service offerings or fund other initiatives outside of standard
municipal budgets.

These side benefits, however, aren’t the central focus. A one mile-stretch of solar
arrays (at ten feet wide) would comprise 52,800 square feet of surface, which at
30 kilowatt-hours generated per square foot annually would arrive at a combined
total of 1.58 million kilowatt-hours – enough to power 150 homes. Any energy
generated by wind turbines would be supplementary. There are approximately
4 million miles of public roads in the United States.123 Yet while not all road
surfaces boat medians (or proximity to power consuming locations), it does
present attractive opportunities to install overhead solar canopies to generate
energy – especially within cities.

Solar Road Canopies

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At concept, a solar road canopy is simply a rectangular canopy over a road surface
that’s built on pylons. As roads are generally flat, straight and cleared at the sides
from overhead obstructions, they’re another easy way to deploy millions of solar
panels. The four million miles of American road surfaces – some 8.3 million lane-
miles124 – are among the most comprehensive in the world; they connect every
city in the nation together and cover thousands of square miles – some 18,860 if
we were to assume each lane of road had the national average width of 12 feet.125

Extrapolated into square feet, that’s a cool 528.88 billion. At 30 kilowatt-hours per
square foot, per year, even one-tenth of that area would output 1.58 trillion
kilowatt-hours – roughly half our national energy consumption. Further, roads
also remain municipally owned, which like highway medians and public
infrastructure allows for large-scale deployment while avoiding the need to
purchase expensive land. Considering the map below, how many other public
locations do we have available – at such size or interconnectivity – to deploy a
nationwide network of anything to a single standard? Roads are the zenith for
integrating renewables within large-scale infrastructure.

However, power is not the only benefit presented by solar road canopies. Heat
management is another major aspect – especially within cities. As summer
months continually increase in temperature through the encroaching impact of
climate change,126 cities are finding it ever-more challenging to deal with
conditions hot enough to melt asphalt.127 Placing solar canopies over roads would
perform the same effect as placing solar canopies over parking lots – providing
shade, keeping the surface below cool and reflecting heat upward instead of
having it absorbed into the ground.

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Another important aspect is the potential for stormwater management. Water

management on roads is a major consideration of both safety128 and
environmental impact.129 By integrating gutter systems into the solar canopies,
such canopy arrays can divert water into nearby water management systems
instead of letting it fall on road surfaces. In the context of drier climates with
limited rainfall, this can present a highly attractive way to replenish municipal
water supplies – especially if solar canopies are deployed over a larger scale. In
the context of the National Aqueduct, this presents an especially effective method
to deliver auxiliary water as well as store solar energy generated during the day
– helping keep roads drier and safer during storms.

While solar road canopies would generate immense energy over distance, further
benefits could include integration with road technology aids. Heating elements
to keep panels clear of snow, municipal WiFi networks, wireless charging for
electric vehicles, directional GPS guidance and auxiliary wireless guidance for
autonomous vehicles are all examples in this respect.

As all canopies would require in abstract are metal pylons, a cross-lattice to install
panels, wiring and plumbing, the overall deployment expenses and logistical
challenges are significantly limited – all the more since they would be installed
on municipal property and thus spared of land costs.

What About Storage?

Applying solar and wind power to standing structures, highway medians, and
road canopies integrates renewable energy into municipal infrastructure, creating
a self-reinforcing system that’s easy to scale and maintain over time. The next
question is storage: how can we keep the energy generated by renewables for later
use? Solar doesn’t work at night and works less efficiently during overcast days.
Wind power only works when the ambient environment is windy. Renewables,
therefore, will only be as effective as their ability to pair with storage mediums.
This has proven significantly challenging – and expensive – for large-scale
renewable deployment in the past, and has presented risks to energy availability
at times of unexpected demand.130

The National Aqueduct (which we’ll go over in Chapter Seven) is the primary
method Universal Energy employs to solve this problem within the framework.

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But there are several other promising energy storage mediums that can work on
a smaller scale when needed – especially in remote locations.

One option comes from Tesla. Their flagship battery products: the Tesla
Powerwall (home use) and Powerpack (commercial applications), provides
piecemeal solar storage solutions at relatively modest costs.

On a commercial scale, Powerpack units can work together, in parallel, to

maximize energy storage capacity. As each unit has a storage capacity of up to
200 kilowatt-hours, an array of hundreds could easily store the energy needed for
most municipal applications.

Liquid-metal batteries, such as the

ones sold by Ambri corporation,
provide another option for mass
power storage. Unlike lithium-ion
batteries used by Tesla and most
commercial electronics, liquid-
metal batteries use a combination
of magnesium and antimony
suspended within a liquid salt
electrolyte to store electricity.131
These materials are highly
abundant and accessible, and modular battery designs allow for straightforward
manufacturing. As their battery arrays are intended to be installed within

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standard-sized shipping containers, they enable flexible deployment strategies to

provide instant-on capability to any electric grid in the world.

Scientists in Beijing recently discovered how to make batteries from potassium-

ion,132 which provides ample supplies from seawater.133 These batteries are
especially promising because they do not require the often environmentally
destructive practices of lithium and cobalt mining, yet also boast attractive
features within energy density and charging capacity. The current prototypes
retain 90% of their energy storage capacity after 10,000 charging cycles, which
shows significant potential for a technology in its infancy.134
A fourth viable option is heat. As opposed to storing electricity directly, thermal
energy storage systems capture heat that can be converted into electricity via
thermoelectric features. Some of the most prominent options on the market today
are molten salt batteries that store heat energy in a salt which doubles as an
electrolyte, efficiently enabling high-energy output.135 Solar-thermal troughs and
hydro-solar thermal arrays use solar energy to generate excess heat for future
conversion into electricity136 – by itself a core function of the National Aqueduct.

-------------------

These advances in commercial battery technology are effective options designed

for use at scale. Implemented as such, they can help sustain critical city-wide
systems or provide backup functionality for municipal power grids in the event
of blackouts. As their scale increases over time, they can provide expanded
storage functionality for renewable energy until the point where the municipality
becomes self-sustaining. This becomes all the more possible once cities are
connected to the National Aqueduct.

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It’s important to reemphasize that these technologies and the commercial

products they reflect are still in their infancy, and have barely scratched the
surface of their future potential. As with the first car, aircraft or smartphone, new
technologies advance over time through increased economies of scale, future
investments in research and development, manufacturing efficiency, and
consumer feedback. Their cost and performance today are not what it could be
tomorrow, next year, or in the next decade.

But even in their infancy, these renewable energy sources, when integrated into
large-scale infrastructure and combined with next-generation commercial energy
storage, complete a circle. Deploying renewables in cities transforms their
capabilities by maximizing their scale while minimizing costs. Once complete,
this circle sets the stage for an evolution in city design that dramatically expands
the potential of the contemporary and future metropolis. Cities, now net energy
consumers, can one day become net energy producers with increased potential to
improve quality of life for their inhabitants. This change is the key to the cities of
tomorrow, built by our hand today.

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A city is not gauged by its length and width, but by the broadness of its vision and the
height of its dreams.

- Herb Caen

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Chapter Three: A Tale of New

Cities
As a framework, Universal Energy places a primary emphasis on modularity and
standardization because these concepts enable flexible – and innovative –
deployments of new technologies. That’s why Universal Energy looks to cities for
large-scale renewable integration. While cities have the highest population
density, and thus demand the lion’s share of both energy and resources, they also
allow us to integrate renewables on a large scale as a byproduct of municipal
infrastructure budgets. Deploying renewables within cities in a standardized,
modular capacity affords Universal Energy the flexibility to serve important
secondary purposes and solve future problems.

To see how, consider the following six images of civil infrastructure. Imagine, as
we did last chapter, that they were completely integrated with renewables. Every
window and roof of every building. Every road and off-ramp. Every bridge.
Every highway median. Everything.

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This scale of renewable integration within any municipality will generate

tremendous energy. But that’s only a feature of the strategy; it’s not the end goal.
The goal is to not just remove the net energy demand cities place on our national
electric grids, but also to further turn that into net energy production – functionally
transforming cities into power plants.

To see how this possible, let’s run some numbers. Miami-Dade County in South
Florida spans an area of 2,431 square miles, 1,898 of which is land.137 It assessed a
net energy consumption of 132.13 billion kilowatt-hours in 2018.138 We saw earlier
how one square mile of solar panel surface can reliably generate 836.4 million
kilowatt-hours per year. That means Miami-Dade County would only have to
integrate renewables with 159 square miles of its infrastructure – less than 8% –
to become resource independent. At 10%, the county generates more power than
it consumes. At 16%, it’s a power plant. One might be forgiven for wondering
what possibilities could arise should that integration reach 30%, 60%, 90% - all the
more so as renewable technologies advance over time.

We see how this approach can remove the energy cities consume on external
power networks and transforms cities from net energy consumers to net energy
producers as a standard function of municipal operation. But from there, several
key side benefits can help cities take full advantage of their next-generation
infrastructure. Of them, standouts include smart grids, intermittency avoidance
and centralized resource production.

Smart Grids

At sufficient scale, municipal deployment of renewables enables cities to “detach”

from external energy-generating infrastructure by zeroing out their demand on
regional electric grids. Once this deployment of renewables expands to the point

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where cities can reliably generate and store more energy than they consume, they
can function as power-generating entities, like nodes on a network.

But it’s important to note that this power generation doesn’t necessarily have to
plug into existing grids. Instead, they can also create their own separate electric
grids that operate in parallel. Multiple grids could serve the same area, which
makes them highly reliable and capable of operating intelligently to respond
deftly to spikes in energy demand. To explain what I mean by that, it’s useful to
see how our electric grid works today and why it’s not up to par to meet the
challenges it will likely face in the future.

As of 2017, our national electric grid is comprised of 7,600+ decentralized power

plants139 that are owned by 3,200+ competing utility companies140 that transmit
electricity through 450,000+ miles of high voltage power lines, relay stations and
transformers.141 In other words, it’s a total mess.

Whenever a power line goes down (storms, transformer overload, accidents), any
location in the service area will go dark and will remain so until new power lines
are constructed or a workaround is built. (See: Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria).

Due to the difficulty of preventing these disruptions, electrical outages leave

an average of 500,000 Americans without power for two hours or more on any
given day.142 This is a costly problem. The National University System Institute
for Policy Research concluded one 2011 blackout in San Diego cost the city
between $97-$118 million.143 That's for one non-disaster-related blackout in one
metropolitan area of one state. Nationwide, the Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory suggests that power outages cost the U.S. economy some $80
billion each year.144 Worse, in times of extreme heat or cold, blackouts can present
a risk to public safety. In the past two decades, power outages have been blamed
for hundreds of deaths (141 in California during a single July heatwave in 2006,
for example).145

Addressing these problems with current methods will be both challenging and
expensive, akin to making a computer built in the 1980s compete with today’s
latest models. By some estimates, it will cost upwards of $1 trillion to improve
U.S. electric grids to simply meet demand by 2025.146 Municipal deployment of
renewables completely changes that. A stretch of renewable-integrated highway
median or solar road canopy does not need power lines – they are the power line.

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They are an electric grid. A business district with buildings covered in solar
windows serves the same purpose.

Within a city, integrated renewables provide their own electric networks that
operate on top of present infrastructure. Connected redundantly to both each
other and existing electric grids, they can route and reroute energy as necessary.
Paired alongside the National Aqueduct or other storage mediums, they can
function as independent nodes to deliver power where it is needed most.

This provides some important side benefits. For starters, it increases the security
of our electric grid multifold. To see how, take a look at the image on the following
page that represents today’s electric grid at the regional scale. In this setup, if a
central power line or substation were to be disabled, the entire section of the grid
they serve would go dark. Our electric grid is then vulnerable to environmental
disasters, terrorist attacks or freak accidents.

By integrating renewable energy within infrastructure on a large scale, our grid

becomes substantially more reliable. Wide swaths of it would have to be
destroyed in order for it to stop functioning completely – making it far more
resilient than our current approach to electricity transmission.

Moreover, a modular, redundant electric grid provided by integrated renewables

allows for improved power management by municipal utilities, affording
secondary methods that can be engaged as needed based on spikes in demand or
blackouts. Municipal authorities would also have an ample supply of usage data
that can help create predictive models for intelligent system design. Paired with
today’s sophisticated computing and accompanying software, this allows energy
management to become more automated and efficient. It allows for the system as
a whole to be upgraded more effectively, as the specific information the system
provides can help determine the areas to best concentrate on for improvement –
allowing energy networks to organically, and intelligently, evolve.

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Overview of standard (current) electric grid:

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Reducing Intermittency

As touched on earlier, a primary obstacle to renewable power today is the

question of intermittency – referring to an energy source that’s not continuously
and instantly available for conversion into electricity. Solar and wind power might
be able to generate lots of energy, but if demand spikes at a time when they’re not
functioning (at night or on non-windy days), their utility wanes significantly.

A particular focus of Universal Energy is integrating these smart, responsive

electric grids within the National Aqueduct as a parallel energy source that can
engage on demand. It would also be backed by a baseload power network of
thorium reactors (which we’ll go over next chapter), which by themselves present
tremendous energy for nominal use and external resource production. The
combined result is a saturation effect, as each power source stacks on the other –
and an integrated backup – to each generate energy from each other in parallel.
Intermittency is thus removed as a primary obstacle, as the entire system is
“instant-on” from at least two of three energy sources.

Centralized Resource Production

Universal Energy seeks to make resource scarcity irrelevant by making energy

scarcity irrelevant, as the transformation of cities into energy-generating centers
allows for the synthetic production of nigh-unlimited resources in locations close
to consumption. As we’ll review later, this enables metropolitan regions to do
things like extract fresh water and hydrogen fuel from seawater, grow food
indoors and synthetically manufacture building materials – all to scale.

This re-imagining of cities has such potential to improve how we generate energy
and acquire resources that it’s easy to focus on the technical benefits of such
capabilities – power, infrastructure, resources, utility management. Yet the social
benefits hold equal potential. When every aspect of a city is overhauled in such
circumstances, each new upgrade acts as a basis for further improvement that can
be reinvested to increase a collective quality of life. It helps reinforce optimism of
what’s actually possible when we stop and realize that investing in our future
best interests is actually in our future best interests, and removes psychological

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barriers to initiatives seeking to continue this trend over the long term. We
believe, fundamentally, in what we can build when we actually build it.

The benefits of this investment also does not limit itself to the commercial,
tourism, and cultural hubs that define our national image. There is no shortage of
places outside of America’s elite coasts that could use a facelift. Centering
municipalities within a national energy framework and investing in next-
generation infrastructure is perhaps the fastest way to see that result delivered.
Reaching that end for all American cities is a central goal of Universal Energy, one
we’ll focus on specifically within Chapter Twelve.

Once cities become central to generating electricity, next-generation

manufacturing, and resource production, they can provide for themselves and
their surrounding regions, markedly increasing the quality of life for millions.
Side benefits of this approach naturally include expanded job opportunities,
stimulated economy and reduced crime. At the same time, national electricity
demand is proportionally reduced as a result of integrated renewables within
municipal infrastructure. From there it sets up the next stage of the framework,
which is to leverage next-generation nuclear to overhaul our resource production
schema, and scale our energy generation capability to uncharted heights.

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In the years since man unlocked the power stored within the atom, the world has made
progress, halting, but effective, toward bringing that power under human control. The
challenge may be our salvation. As we begin to master the destructive potentialities of
modern science, we move toward a new era in which science can fulfill its creative
promise and help bring into existence the happiest society the world has ever known.

- John F. Kennedy

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Chapter Four: The Thorium

Backbone
Using integrated renewables to transform cities into power-generating centers is
key to Universal Energy because it helps reduce and eventually remove the
demand municipalities place on regional electric grids. As urban regions
eventually become net energy producers, we can generate more than they
consume, which helps contribute to a nationwide abundance of inexpensive
energy that can be devoted to the indefinite production of critical resources. The
next step in the framework is to increase our base load power infrastructure, and
scale a national energy abundance, to a dramatically higher tier.

“Base load” refers to the minimum amount of power that needs to be generated
for a given region over time.147 Today, this is met through larger “base load”
power stations that are supplemented by smaller plants that engage when
demand spikes. As base load stations are designed to be constantly operational
and generate a lot of electricity, they are more expensive to construct and
maintain, which encourages the use of cheaper fuels to power them.

Accordingly, most of our base load infrastructure is presently powered by fossil

fuels (coal and natural gas), followed by enriched uranium and hydroelectric.148
While far superior to environmentally toxic coal, hydroelectric and natural gas
present their own ecological drawbacks.149 Hydroelectric can only be deployed in
limited locations, and enriched uranium is both limited in quantity and primarily
deployed in reactor designs that present concerns of both weaponization and
risks of catastrophic failure. To make matters worse, the majority of our base load
infrastructure is decades old.150 More than half of our base load power
infrastructure was built before 1980, and 75% of our coal-fueled power plants are
at least thirty years old with an average expected lifespan of forty years.151

Universal Energy seeks to solve these problems by replacing our base load
infrastructure with next-generation technology that’s designed to work alongside
other power systems intelligently, employing the same concepts of
standardization and modularity that’s applied to integrated renewables. The
technology it looks to for this role is a clean, safe and highly efficient form of

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atomic energy that comes from the element thorium – not enriched uranium – to
provide an immense source of base load power for our national energy grids.

In saying this, it’s important to mention that nuclear power can be a polarizing
subject – and for good reason. Atomic energy can be dangerous. It can make
weapons of mass destruction, cause regionally-devastating meltdowns and
produce toxic waste that lasts for millennia. Risks aside, certain types of nuclear
power can also be incredibly expensive, leading many to doubt its long-term
economic viability. For these reasons, nuclear has become politically controversial
in much of the world, especially within the United States.

Yet while many of these concerns are conceptually valid, nearly every single one
centers on the consequences of nuclear reactors that run on a combination of
enriched uranium and pressurized water. And the reason most reactors have worked
this way in the past is because atomic energy as we know it was born from
initiatives designed to produce both nuclear weapons and civilian power as
directed from national leadership during the Cold War.152 Consequently, there are
few ways to decouple “traditional” nuclear reactors from nuclear weapons
development. Any attempt to do so with certainty quickly reaches into the billions
of dollars, to say nothing of the ecological risks and their accompanying expenses.

But thorium is not “traditional” nuclear. Reactors fueled by thorium don’t use
water and aren’t pressurized – the main issue behind reactor “meltdowns.”
Thorium reactors don’t use solid fuel, either – the entire reactor core is liquid. It’s
physically impossible for one to “melt down” like their pressurized-water
counterparts and they can’t wreak serious environmental havoc if sabotaged.
Thorium reactors can consume both nuclear waste and weapons-grade nuclear
material as fuel, but at the same time are difficult to use to build nuclear weapons.
Their waste has a minimal environmental footprint as well, and that waste becomes
safe over decades as opposed to millennia.153

Thorium reactors further fit the requirements of Universal Energy. They operate
at high temperature and offer plenty of excess energy for supplemental resource
production. They can be built to a single standard, small in size and modular in
function that can be mass produced and deployed anywhere in the world. The
designs being proposed already include the cogenerative features that Universal
Energy seeks for a dynamic energy framework. As we’ll see later in this chapter,
the technology has been proven to work impressively and has further seen

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financial investments well into the billions from seven countries (as of this
writing) – including the United States.154

But in advocating their benefits, it’s important to also note that thorium reactors
have their criticisms. Some come from people simply opposed to nuclear power
as a concept, favoring exclusive use of renewables. Others come from nuclear
engineers, cautioning against discarding traditional reactor designs that, while
riskier, have seen the lion’s share of research and development with regards to
atomic energy. Others still come from people who doubt the viability of a science
that – to be fair – has a contingent of enthusiastic backers who at times oversell
thorium’s benefits without recognizing the challenges, however solvable, to
deploying the technology on a large scale.

These criticisms are taken seriously by this writing and will be addressed directly
in this chapter, situated fairly and factually within the context of the resource,
climate and energy challenges humanity will be facing in the future. This
discussion will also draw a noteworthy distinction between renewables and
thorium, and directly address why we even need both in the first place.

Good point. Renewables Are Awesome. So Why Do

We Need Thorium?

As a framework, Universal Energy functions on the recognition that until we

develop true fusion energy155 there will be no one singular technology that is
capable of meeting humanity’s energy and resource requirements. Renewables
are essential to city-level energy reduction and eventual independence, all the
more so as their integration increases in scale. But by themselves, renewables fall
far short of the threshold needed to reliably meet the demands of base load power
nationwide, which itself is a far lower bar than the levels of energy we require to
solve resource scarcity and climate change.

Further, even if renewables could generate enough energy to solve these problems,
the carbon emissions behind their base material extraction, manufacture,
transport and installation at sufficient scale would undermine the endeavor from
the start. Solar and wind power, as we’ll review later in this chapter, requires lots
of raw materials to construct – between 10,000-17,000 metric tons to generate a
single terawatt.156 That says nothing of transmission or storage – nor the energy
needed to source, process and integrate materials for those functions. It also says
nothing of the considerable difficulties presented by their end-state disposal.

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That’s not a problem if the energy used in every step the renewable
manufacturing chain is carbon-neutral, but only clean nuclear is capable of
generating that level of carbon-free energy as a modular standard. Further, only
clean nuclear is capable of generating enough carbon-free energy to power
auxiliary functions of synthetic resource production. To see why this is the case,
let’s compare nuclear and solar at scale:

One of the largest solar power stations in the world is the Topaz Solar Farm in
southern California. At a cost of $2.5 billion and spanning 7.3 square miles, the
Topaz Solar Farm deploys nine million solar modules to generate an aggregate of
1,270 gigawatt-hours annually.157 That’s certainly impressive. But it’s dwarfed
when compared to the generating capacity of base load nuclear.

The Limerick nuclear power plant in southeast Pennsylvania, for comparison, has
a generating capacity of 2,270 megawatts and annually outputs 19,000 gigawatt-
hours.158 That plant is barely half the size of the Palo Verde nuclear plant in
Arizona, which has a generating capacity of 3,942 megawatts and annually
outputs 32,840 gigawatt-hours of energy.159

Even as one of the largest solar power stations in existence – located in one of the
most solar-effective areas on the planet – the Topaz Solar Farm generates less than
5% of the output of a large base load nuclear power station.

Across a city – or many of them – that capacity definitely matters. Renewables

serve the purpose of rapid installation, flexibility of deployment and integration
within municipal infrastructure, uniquely suiting them for supplementing
national energy generation and reducing regional energy demand – all the more
so once integrated into the National Aqueduct. But it would take thousands of
square miles at a cost of many trillions of dollars to meet our energy demands in
full through renewables alone,160 a threshold that modern nuclear reactors can
meet at a fraction of the physical, material and economic footprint.

That’s where thorium comes in.

Like renewables, thorium’s role in the framework is to provide a nigh-unlimited

source of clean electricity. Yet thorium can do so at a degree and to a density that
presents an unrivaled capability to not only exceed our current base load
infrastructure, but also present such an abundance of energy that it causes the

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price of electricity to plummet. Most critically, thorium is capable of this while also
generating enough residual heat energy to power inexpensive resource production.

That’s the essential capability that only clean nuclear can meet on the scale we
need to solve resource scarcity and climate change. We’ll devote the rest of this
chapter to see how thorium reactors can serve as a vital component of Universal
Energy, bridging the divide between nuclear and renewables while expanding
our energy production capabilities and transforming our resource supply chain.

Credit: XKCD (modified with love)

In doing so, we’ll be focusing on five key points:

• A brief overview of thorium and nuclear power. (Page 87)

• Why we don’t use thorium today. (Page 90)
• How thorium works differently than “traditional” nuclear. (Page 97)
• How we know thorium reactors are a feasible and economical source of
power. (Page 107)
• Why criticisms of thorium are wrong on the facts (Page 115)

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A Quick Note:
While The Next Giant Leap takes care to explain all technologies behind Universal
Energy in detail, thorium reactors (and the nuclear science that makes them
possible) are the most sophisticated and technically complex systems in the
framework. Further, in the interests of intellectual honesty, this chapter also takes
care to fairly summarize and address criticisms to thorium + nuclear power and
explain why they are wrong on the facts.

As such, while this chapter is written in accessible language that’s easy to

understand even if you don’t have a technical background, it’s still the longest
and most detailed in this book. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, please feel free to
jump to Chapter Five: Water and Hydrogen on page 133 and come back at any
time to finish reviewing how thorium is key to a clean energy future.

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So, What Is A Thorium Reactor?

When people think of nuclear power, they commonly think of a large facility with
tall steam stacks, perhaps also containing potentially dangerous materials that
could cause calamity under the wrong circumstances. That’s the classic
“Pressurized Water Reactor” which works via a combination of pressurized water
and enriched uranium. In contrast, Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors (LFTRs)
use thorium within a high-temperature liquid moderator – no pressure needed –
and they work in a way that avoids atomic energy’s most serious problems.161
Here’s a short list of their highlights:

• LFTRs are highly efficient – hundreds of times more so than Pressurized

Water Reactors.162

• LFTRs are extremely safe. Because their fuel and reactant are liquid and not
under extreme pressure (unlike traditional reactors), it is physically
impossible for them to “melt down.”163

• Thorium is more stable than other radioactive elements and is safe to handle
in raw form unless ingested or inhaled. Additionally, it does not require
additional enrichment to power a reactor.164

• LFTRs produce far less waste than Pressurized Water Reactors and can also
consume both nuclear waste and weapons-grade nuclear material as fuel.165
Of what small amounts of waste remain, it takes only decades for it to become
safe as opposed to millennia with reactors powered by enriched uranium.166

• The LFTR’s thorium fuel supply is highly abundant – thorium is about as

common as lead – making it thousands of times more plentiful than fuel-grade
uranium (only about 0.7% of all uranium in Earth’s known land reserves).167

• The thorium fuel in LFTRs is difficult to weaponize. While theoretically

possible, the weapon would be unstable, far weaker than traditional nuclear
weapons, and would be significantly less practical for use in conflict.168

• As a result of their efficiency and safety, LFTRs can be much smaller than
Pressurized Water Reactors. Where Pressurized Water Reactors often sit on
multi-acre compounds and require large buffer zones in case of emergencies,
LFTRs can be around the size of a house or even smaller.169

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• LFTRs are significantly less expensive to build than Pressurized Water

Reactors, and their small size allows them to be mass-produced on assembly
lines in a standardized and modular capacity. That means nuclear reactors
can become iterations of a product model as opposed to custom-built facilities.
The cost savings presented by this capability are immense.170

• Although recent thorium designs are experimental, the technology is proven

to work both reliably and impressively – an emphasis that will be elaborated
upon within a later section of this chapter.

LFTRs are superior to today’s Pressurized Water Reactors in nearly every way
possible, and their capabilities have been known to science since the 1960’s.171 But
that prompts an important question: why aren’t we using them today?

To answer that, we’ll need to cover some background that’s easier to understand
by first reviewing a few terms surrounding atomic energy. What follows is a quick
refresher from science class, or a primer if you’re not familiar with how nuclear
power works. (Feel free to skim it, or to skip it now and refer to it as necessary.)

Atom: the building block of matter,

composing everything we see and touch.
Atoms generally have three types of particles
within them. The center of the atom houses the
nucleus, which is comprised of a given
number of positively charged protons and
neutrally charged neutrons. The nucleus is
orbited by negatively charged electrons.

The different elements in the world are made

up of atoms, and each element has a specific
atomic arrangement of these particles as
shown in the periodic table of elements. Elements and the nature of their atomic
composition are the basis of all chemistry and nuclear science.

Radioactive decay: the process in which an unstable atom spontaneously emits

radiation in the form of atomic particles or energy. Any substance that naturally
undergoes radioactive decay is considered to be “radioactive.”

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Isotope: an unstable variant of an element, usually as a result of radioactive decay

and/or something called transmutation (explained next). Isotopes have numerical
designations reflective of their atomic composition. For example: uranium-233
and uranium-235 are isotopes of the element uranium.

Transmutation: the process in which one isotope of an element becomes an

isotope of another element through nuclear means (like absorbing a neutron).

Fission: the splitting of an atom’s nucleus, releasing tremendous energy and

“fission products” (usually radiation + isotopes of other elements). For example:
reactors fueled with enriched uranium work by using a neutron to split the
nucleus of uranium-235 into kryptonium-92 and barium-141.172

Fusion: the joining of atomic nuclei together to form a new element, releasing
more energy than even fission. For example: fusing tritium and deuterium
(isotopes of hydrogen) into helium, which is how our sun works.173

Fissile fuel: an isotope of an element that can undergo fission directly inside a
reactor. Uranium-233 and uranium-235 are fissile fuels.

Fertile fuel: an isotope of an element that can’t undergo fission directly, but can
if transmuted into a fissile fuel. Thorium is a fertile fuel.

Enrichment: the process of adding greater levels of a radioactive isotope within a

nuclear fuel supply. For example: Light Water Reactors use “enriched uranium,”
which involves adding more uranium-235 to a fuel supply to sustain fission.
Nuclear weapons use “highly enriched” nuclear material to sustain a faster chain
reaction. Thorium reactors (especially LFTRs) do not require enrichment.174

Breeding: a process in certain reactor designs that employ transmutation to

transform a fertile fuel into a fissile fuel. Any reactor that undergoes a breeding
process is considered a “breeder reactor.” LFTRs are breeder reactors.175

Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR): 1950’s-era reactor designs that use highly
pressurized water to help regulate and make possible a fission reaction inside a
reactor core. Pressurized Water Reactors use solid fuel and are the most common
nuclear reactors operating today.176

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Light Water Reactor (LWR): a type of Pressurized Water Reactor that uses
enriched uranium to generate electricity. Most Pressurized Water Reactors take
this form.177

Heavy Water Reactor (HWR): a type of Pressurized Water Reactor that does not
use enriched uranium, but rather uses a type of water with an extra neutron,
known as deuterium oxide or “heavy water,” to sustain fission. These reactors are
less common, but still present proliferation risks – especially for weapons-grade
plutonium.178

Molten Salt Reactor (MSR): a type of advanced reactor design that uses a special
type of non-radioactive salt that becomes liquid at high temperatures to act as
both a moderator for the reactor and a carrier mechanism for nuclear fuel. They
operate at standard atmospheric pressure and have a liquid fuel supply. LFTRs
are a highly efficient form of Molten Salt Reactors that also undergo breeding.179

With these terms defined, we’ll take a minute to review a bit of our history with
atomic energy – specifically addressing why thorium isn’t the primary source of
nuclear fuel today.

The Unholy Alliance: Electricity and Bombs

Most nuclear reactors, including those within the United States, are fueled by
uranium-235, an isotope representing less than 0.7% of all naturally existing
uranium on Earth.180 Uranium-235 is a fissile fuel, meaning that the possibility
exists for its atomic nucleus to split into isotopes of other elements if hit by a fast-
moving neutron, releasing levels of energy that are millions of times greater than
any known chemical fuel source. For reference: burning a single molecule of
methane releases 9.6 eV (electron volts) of energy.181 Fissioning a single uranium-
235 atom releases 200 MeV (million electron volts) of energy.182 That’s a huge
difference.

For nuclear fission to work for power generation, it involves a concept known as
“criticality”: a threshold, or “critical mass,” where there is enough fissionable
material present for the reaction to sustain itself. As it exists in nature, elemental
uranium is not capable of doing this. Yet the isotopes uranium-233 and uranium-
235 are. If these isotopes are extracted and placed in a controlled environment (or
if enriched into a fuel supply) the fission reaction becomes sustainable over long

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periods of time. Within Pressurized Water Reactors, this reaction efficiently

produces heat, which boils water into steam that turns a turbine and generates
electricity. In concept, traditional nuclear reactors are just a very efficient and
sophisticated implementation of steam power.

But for several reasons, this past approach is less than ideal. For starters, the
uranium-235 fuel cycle is more reactive than thorium and harder to control once
it reaches criticality. Further, its sustainability as a fuel source is limited, and spent
fuel rods must be replaced (along with the reactor core) every 18-24 months183 –
requiring reactor shutdown. As spent fuel is highly radioactive and contaminates
anything it comes in contact with (including disposal equipment), this process
creates an effectively endless supply of radioactive waste. If that wasn’t enough,
Pressurized Water Reactors can present extremely dangerous conditions if any
part of the reaction became unstable or uncontrollable.

Pressurized Water Reactors were invented in the 1950’s and their designs have
remained conceptually consistent since then. Most work just fine. Yet should key
systems fail, the uranium-235 fuel supply (which is normally placed in extractible
rods)184 could remain stuck inside the reactor. Should this happen, the reaction
would continue unrestrained, generating enough heat to melt the fuel supply and
cause it to pool at the bottom of the reactor’s pressurized water core. In this
circumstance, the reaction would accelerate exponentially to amplify heat and
water pressure until it eventually caused a steam explosion – resulting in the
spread of highly radioactive material over a region. That event is called a
“meltdown” and is effectively what happened in Chernobyl.185 Needless to say,
such events are catastrophic beyond hyperbole.

Because of the risk of meltdowns, however unlikely, Pressurized Water Reactors

must be built with extensive safety features: containment domes of steel-
reinforced concrete that are several feet thick, massive cooling and pressurization
apparatuses, and redundant mechanisms that engage in case any systems were to
fail. Pressurized Water Reactors also must be built in sparsely populated areas
with large buffer zones in case the surrounding region needed to be evacuated in
an emergency. The expenses and security concerns of this reality prompt an
important question, though: why in the heck are we using uranium-235 within
Pressurized Water Reactors, even though better alternatives exist?

Simply stated? Because at the end of the day, the uranium-235 fuel cycle is
mankind’s best-known pathway to building nuclear weapons.

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During World War II, scientists working for the U.S. government (and Third
Reich)186 discovered that certain fissile isotopes had a unique property: if enriched
highly enough, they could reach a super-critical state. And if, in this super-critical
state, they were rapidly bombarded with neutrons, it could create a nuclear
detonation – resulting in the most powerful man-made force in existence.

As it was two of those detonations that ended World War II, the significance of
atomic weaponry could not be downplayed, especially once the Cold War
unfolded. Thus, as civilian nuclear power developed as an energy source, so did
the development of nuclear arms and their delivery mechanisms. These two
sectors converged to ensure our continued use of uranium-235 as fuel.187 But not
just because its highly enriched forms are far more powerful than conventional
explosives in weapons of war. The other, more essential reason is that the
uranium-235 fuel cycle can be leveraged to artificially create plutonium-239 – a
far more potent weapons fuel that does not naturally exist on Earth in any
significant quantity.188 And you need plutonium-239 to build hydrogen bombs.

Nuclear bombs come in varied shapes and sizes. With the right materials,
building a basic nuclear weapon is, in theory, relatively straightforward. The
general idea is to:

1. Find a way to rapidly combine highly enriched fissile material together

into a critical mass (explosives usually do the trick),

2. Introduce a high-intensity neutron source to spark a fast-fissile chain-

reaction, and

3. Tada! – you’ve got yourself a nuclear bomb. (Please don’t actually try
this at home).

The following image shows a nuclear weapon similar to the description above –
a gun-type assembly weapon, which is the bomb the United States dropped on
Hiroshima. It’s fairly simple, conceptually speaking.

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Image Source.189

However, building a powerful bomb that’s still compact enough to function as a

missile’s warhead requires an implosion-type assembly. This method delivers a
critical mass through implosion – compressing a larger sphere of fissile fuel into
a smaller sphere by means of explosives – a highly sophisticated and difficult
process. Implosion-type devices can not only be significantly smaller than gun-
type devices, they are also far more efficient and thus far more destructive.

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Image Source.190

Uranium-235 isn’t very effective in implosion-type devices, as it has a high critical

mass requirement – complicating its deployability in military conflict.191
Plutonium-239, on the other hand, has a much lower critical mass requirement,192
but only exists in trace amounts on Earth.

Yet the fuel and reprocessing cycles within Light and Heavy Water Reactors
provided a convenient method to source plutonium-239 for implosion devices.193
As these devices can be built small in size (basketball or smaller), this led to future

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weapons designs that leveraged their immense energy to fuse isotopes of

hydrogen together, providing a dramatically more powerful explosion. Thus, the
hydrogen bomb was born,194 as was our reliance on uranium-235 to source the
plutonium that makes them possible.

The following image shows the basic stages of the thermonuclear detonation of a
hydrogen bomb, employing a Teller-Ulam design:195

Image source.196

A): The warhead, in its inactive state. The “primary” – the implosion-type fission
bomb – is on top. The “secondary” – the cylinder-shaped object below – is fusion
fuel. It’s comprised of something called lithium-6 deuteride that’s wrapped
around a “sparkplug” of plutonium-239, both of which are suspended in
polystyrene plastic foam.

B): The bomb is triggered. The high explosive charges of the primary activate and
compress the plutonium core into a super-critical state. A fission detonation
occurs.

C). Within the first nanoseconds of detonation, the fission primary emits high
levels of X-ray energy that reflect inside of the bomb case. This irradiates the
polystyrene foam.

D). The heat and X-ray irradiation cause the polystyrene foam to turn into
superheated plasma, which expands massively and compresses the secondary.
As this occurs, the excess neutrons from the primary’s fission reaction cause the
plutonium in the secondary’s sparkplug to undergo fission, creating even more
heat, pressure and radiation.

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E). At such extreme heat and pressure, the lithium-6 deuteride separates into
tritium and deuterium, which are isotopes of hydrogen. Under these
circumstances, these isotopes fuse together to form helium in a reaction
thousands of times more powerful than the fission detonations of atomic bombs.

In short: by harnessing the heat, radiation and pressure of an implosion-type

fission bomb, thermonuclear weapons fuse isotopes of hydrogen together to
create helium, essentially forming a second sun when detonated. With potential
yields in the megatons, we can now build weapons that make the bombs dropped
on Japan seem like firecrackers in comparison.

Image Source.197

But without plutonium-239 to facilitate a thermonuclear detonation, none of the

thousands of hydrogen bombs in the world could exist. And without using
Pressurized Water Reactors, there would not be a straightforward way to
efficiently produce plutonium-239.

This is why we fuel our power plants today with nuclear dynamite that creates
waste products that last for thousands of years and rank among the most toxic

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substances in existence: to build and maintain nuclear arsenals. That’s the dirty
secret behind our approach to nuclear energy. We have corrupted the most
powerful energy source that we have ever discovered in the name of an arms race,
and at the cost of a world placed in perpetual jeopardy.

If we’re willing to contend with the 15,000 nuclear weapons in global arsenals as
enough,198 and finally forsake the drive to intertwine their production with
civilian nuclear energy, thorium gives us another option. One that can avoid
nearly every complication with past approaches to atomic power, as well as usher
in a clean energy future that exceeds every threshold of our present limitations.

Thorium to The Rescue

Although the name “thorium” comes from the Norse god of thunder, thorium
isn’t as reactive as its namesake suggests, ranking among the least reactive
radioactive elements.199 It is safe to handle in its raw form so long as it’s not
ingested, and by itself isn’t particularly remarkable. This lack of natural reactivity
and radioactivity, however, is what makes it an ideal fuel in next-generation
reactor designs.

As a LFTR is a type of Molten Salt Reactor (MSR), it powers nuclear fission at

normal atmospheric pressure through a wholly liquid core that is self-regulating
– a completely different setup from the solid fuel rods and pressurized water
cores used in traditional nuclear reactors. As discussed previously, meltdowns
are problems with solid fuel reactors because a runaway reaction can’t be
controlled, which leads to catastrophic results because the solid fuel melts and
creates ever-greater pressure until it eventually causes a steam explosion.200 But
an MSR is designed to operate in “meltdown” conditions naturally. In the case of
a LFTR, it’s one of the few circumstances in which thorium is sufficiently reactive
– and even then, it’s a slow and steady reaction.

Compare LFTRs and Pressurized Water Reactors to the fable of the tortoise and
the hare, and you’re on the right track.

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Image source. 201

The reaction works like this: thorium-232 and uranium-233 – the kind of uranium
that's difficult to use in bombs – are dissolved into molten salts (usually lithium
fluoride – but could be any number of alternatives)202 and fed into the reactor. The
molten salts act as a carrier for the thorium fuel and as a catalyst for the reaction,
which keeps the fuel supply at high temperature and at the same time helps refuel
the reactor over time through breeding.203

More technically, a LFTR’s core fissions transmuted uranium-233, releasing heat,

energy and excess neutrons that combine with the fertile thorium-232 in the liquid
molten salt to form more fissile uranium-233 through transmutation. Then, the
newly-transmuted uranium-233 is fed back into the reactor core, making for

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sustained, efficient, and self-regulating fission.204 This fission reaction, through a

series of heat exchangers, then heats an inert gas that is sent through turbines to
generate electricity.205 As this reaction generates lots of heat, there remains plenty
of leftover energy that can also be used for on-site water desalination and
hydrogen production, which we’ll discuss in the next few chapters.

As LFTRs can reprocess and resupply their own fuel from the waste products of
the original fission reaction, in addition to a hefty supply of fertile thorium
(known as the “blanket”), LFTRs essentially refuel themselves for long periods of
time at high efficiencies. Just how efficient are LFTRs? One ton of thorium-232 in
a LFTR gives us the energy equivalent of 250 tons of uranium-235 in a traditional
Light Water Reactor, or 4.16 million tons of coal in a coal-power plant.206

The breeding process can allow the reactor to continually reprocess and produce
its own fuel from thorium for up to 30 years without replacement (although this
time would be likely be shorter due to the eventual need to replace certain
components of the reactor core).207 For a fuel supply, though, that’s still some 15
times longer than traditional Light Water Reactors.208 Plus, LFTRs are 54%
efficient (some 20% higher than most coal plants) and use 99% of their fuel.209 And
as that 46% efficiency loss primarily takes the form of heat, we can re-capture that
heat to power auxiliary systems that produce resources.

The use of thorium-232 in LFTRs is superior to the use of uranium-235 in a

Pressurized Water Reactor in other ways as well, particularly when looking at
safety, sustainability, scalability, security and cost.

Safety. Because LFTRs operate at normal atmospheric pressure, far less can go
wrong. And in case of emergencies, the fix is simple and effective: gravity. As the
reactant is liquid, it can drain into smaller storage tanks with insufficient critical
mass to sustain the reaction, thus it freezes.210 This makes it physically
impossible for a LFTR to “melt down” in the traditional sense, even under
catastrophic circumstances.211 If a LFTR was targeted by terrorist attacks and
blown up, the liquid reactant would flash-freeze into a solid once exposed to the
open air. Additionally, once its fuel cycle has completed, LFTRs produce
substantially less radioactive waste than Pressurized Water Reactors.212 The
radioactive waste that remains is also short-lived – staying dangerous only for
decades as opposed to millennia.213

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Thorium is plentiful and sustainable for long-term use. About as common as

lead, the global supply of thorium is three to four times greater than all forms of
uranium – and only 0.7% of all uranium is fissile.214 Thorium is also a common
byproduct of rare earth metal mining, presenting straightforward opportunities
in the short-term for easier acquisition.215 There is enough thorium in the United
States alone to power the country for the next 10,000 years.216

LFTRs have a greatly reduced environmental footprint. By nature of their

operation, most radioactive waste inside LFTR cores is consumed by the
reactor.217 This enables LFTRs to consume other types of waste as well, including
weapons-grade fissile material and even the nuclear waste generated by
traditional nuclear reactors.218 In turn, LFTRs can then act as nuclear garbage
disposals that also generate electricity for decades.219 The physical amount of
waste remaining once the reaction consumes all fuel is less than 1/1000th of the
waste produced by Light Water Reactors.220 Additionally, LFTR waste decays
quickly, with the most toxic radioactive isotopes having a half-life of only 30.17
years.221 This means that a supply of radioactive waste from a LFTR would
become less radioactive than natural uranium within a period of 300 years or
less.222 More toxic radioactive waste from Light Water Reactors can last for
thousands of years.223

LFTRs reduce the possibility of proliferation. The weaponization of a nuclear

reaction is unique in that only uranium-235 and plutonium-239 have been known
to make a militarily effective bomb. However, while not on the same scale it is
technically possible to create a rudimentary nuclear device using material
produced in LFTRs – namely through uranium-233 and neptunium-237.

Yet doing so is considerably more difficult and less reliable than with traditional
nuclear materials and traditional nuclear reactor designs. Further, uranium-233
and neptunium-237 – even if fashioned into a nuclear weapon – would likely
make the device ineffective for military purposes. The reasons?

Purification difficulties and inherent dangers. It's been theorized that if

an LFTR is using something called a fluorinator, neptunium-237 can be
extracted via a chemical process, which has potential to undergo a fast-
fissile reaction and enable a nuclear detonation.224 But the critical mass
requirement for neptunium-237 is roughly 60 kilograms, which is higher
than even uranium-235 – and emits 2,000% more gamma emissions than
plutonium-239.225 That would make such a weapon far more dangerous to

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build and less practical to deploy even if the expertise to weaponize

neptunium-237 existed.226 Further, chemical purification to this degree
requires highly expensive and purpose-built infrastructure that can’t be
obtained by entities other than states with sophisticated science programs.

Moreover, part of the breeding process to transmute thorium-232 into

uranium-233 involves the production227 of an invariable amount of
uranium-232 – which, while perfectly safe within a reactor, also emits high
levels of both alpha228 and gamma radiation.229 For those inclined, ionizing
radiation (the potentially harmful kind) is commonly measured in “rem”
(Roentgen Equivalent Man).230 In general, the more radiation one absorbs,
the more harmful the effects become. At standard levels, the uranium-232
contaminant within a 5kg sphere of uranium-233 would generate up to 38
rem per hour.231 For use in a weapon, uranium-233 has a minimum critical
mass of 16.5 kilograms232 - presenting an aggregate dose of up to 125
rem/hr. Serious radiation sickness begins with short-term exposure of 150
rem, and anything over that is potentially lethal.233

At sufficient mass to build a nuclear weapon, this would make the

material too dangerous to handle by human beings and would require the
employment of sophisticated (and expensive) remote-assembly robotics –
traits not shared by other weapons-grade nuclear material.234
Additionally, uranium-232’s gamma emissions damage sensitive
electronics and increase material heat,235 which can prevent a sophisticated
nuclear device from detonating under precise and exact conditions – hard
requirements for effective use as a weapon.236

These are important distinctions in light of concerns from nuclear agencies

that cast aspersions on thorium’s proliferation resistance. One notable
example of these concerns comes from a 2010-era report by the United
Kingdom’s National Nuclear Laboratory237 that states:

“Contrary to that which many proponents of thorium claim, U-233 should be

regarded as posing a definite proliferation risk. For a thorium fuel cycle which
falls short of a breeding cycle, uranium fuel would always be needed to
supplement the fissile material…Attempts to lower the fissile content of
uranium by adding U-238 are considered to offer only weak protection, as the
U-233 could be separated in a centrifuge cascade in the same way that U-235 is
separated from U-238 in the standard uranium fuel cycle…The argument that

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the high U-232 content would be self-protecting are considered to be over-stated.

NNL’s view is that thorium systems are no more proliferation resistant than U-
Pu systems though they may offer limited benefits in some circumstances.”

As with neptunium-237, “proliferation risk” is contextual – and much of

that context derives basis from academic postulation as opposed to
tangible capability. Just because a state could theoretically make a nuclear
device from uranium-233 doesn’t mean it can make one practically – all the
more so since there is negligible data or expertise to aid in the creation of
such a device. And even if that effort was successful, none of that says
such a device would be sufficiently powerful for use in a conflict – or even
if it can be effectively deployed in the first place.

Once those factors enter the equation, the optics change significantly.

The UK National Nuclear Laboratory is, of course, correct. Both uranium-

233 and neptunium-237 are fissile fuels, and both have potential to
undergo nuclear detonations.238 Further, the uranium-232 contaminant
within uranium-233 probably wouldn’t stop a crude bomb from
detonating crudely – even if it killed its makers.

But it would stop a bomb that relies on sophisticated technology to

implode in the precise detonations required for miniaturization to a
warhead-scale. It also ignores that LFTRs can be designed to minimize the
risk of weaponization barring major infrastructural investments that
would draw the attention of international atomic energy monitors. And
even if a state had enough neptunium-237, the critical mass requirements
would hinder the ability to deploy a weapon of sufficient yield unless that
weapon was carried by aircraft or large, long-range missile. The presence
of both of these factors would remove either isotope from consideration
as a primary charge for a thermonuclear device, and would further
preclude both from use as a first-strike weapon.239

Further, even if we did grant credence to a rouge state’s ability to invest

the time, effort, and risk to either purify uranium-233 or build a weapon
with neptunium-237, it’s important to emphasize just how difficult this is
to do – all the more so to do so quietly. If any rogue nation tried to build
such infrastructure, any intelligence agency with a satellite would know

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exactly what was going on in short time (which is how we know Iran,
North Korea, etc., have nuclear weapons programs).

Nuclear weapons design isn’t secret anymore – no 75-year old technology

is. The hydrogen bomb, even, is old enough to collect social security. But
reaching certain milestones towards making one are only possible with
highly expensive and sophisticated systems built specifically for that
purpose. They’re not the sort of thing one picks up at Walmart, and their
procurement would certainly raise flags among international monitors
and foreign intelligence services – especially since there’s only a few
entities in the world that manufacture them. If that wasn’t enough, they
remain among the most controlled machines on the planet.

If your life’s ever lacking excitement, try wiring a few million dollars to
an offshore bank account for an order of krytron tubes, ultra-fast relay
switches, large gas centrifuges and a hefty supply of lithium-6. At the very
least you’ll see a whole lot of government property and personnel you
didn’t know existed appear awfully fast. Should any state try the same, that
property and personnel usually manifests in the form of an airstrike to
destroy such a program in its infancy. That’s usually long-before said state
has even conducted the multitude of tests needed to see if their bomb
design even works, as (likely) happened in Syria in 2007.240

At the levels of sophistication and expertise required to covertly obtain the

necessary materials and successfully make a bomb out of uranium-233 or
neptunium-237, building a bomb with traditional nuclear materials
sourced from the ground or ocean241 becomes an easier prospect.

Even so, commercial LFTR designs would need to be required to

intentionally contaminate the reactant with materials that would make
weaponization harder from the start.242 This wouldn’t permanently
remove the risk, but it would make it much more difficult for all but the
most dedicated actors. In those cases, if a state is advanced enough to
make a nuclear weapon from thorium, they don’t need thorium to make
one in the first place.

And regardless, it’s still poor bomb fuel. Even if they could be efficiently
extracted, uranium-233 and neptunium-237 are ineffective fast-reacting
fissile fuels compared to highly enriched uranium-235 and plutonium-

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239. There are only two known nuclear weapon tests that have ever used
uranium-233 – none have ever used neptunium-237. Both of the uranium-
233 devices were largely considered failures due to weaker-than-intended
explosive yields, respectively at 22 kilotons (U.S. – 1955) and 0.2 kilotons
(India, 1998) – relative pittances compared to modern nuclear weapons.243
In the first device, the uranium-233 was chemically purified (which, again,
is highly difficult to do) and was significantly complemented by
plutonium-239 to increase yield.244 As a consequence of those lackluster
tests, there exists little research or expertise to weaponize uranium-233 or
neptunium-237, nor avoid the inherent dangers of doing so.245

And even if there was research or expertise, what’s the endgame? To bring
dynamite to a thermonuclear missile fight? In a realpolitik sense, the
leverage gained by building a nuclear weapon is only as valuable as its
effective usability in a conflict – or a hedge against the same. A single U.S.
Navy Ohio-class submarine can launch 24 missiles – each armed with up
to 12 thermonuclear warheads that each yield 475 kilotons – and the U.S.
Navy has fourteen of such submarines. Nothing from thorium is ever
going to produce anything that can hold a candle to that.

This is why every state with nuclear ambitions has instead invested in
uranium-235 and plutonium-239, for their use is easier and safer than
hijacking the thorium fuel cycle to produce weapons-grade material.
While again, this does not totally alleviate concerns of proliferation
through thorium, it does reduce them to a significance on par with a state
making an in-house weapons program of their own volition – and that’s
becoming increasingly more plausible as technology advances globally.
With these considerations in mind, the clean energy benefits that thorium
and LFTRs bring simply outweigh the theoretical risks of either being
used by a dedicated actor for nefarious purposes.

LFTRs are simpler, smaller and less expensive than Pressurized Water
Reactors. As traditional nuclear reactors have to be pressurized to 160
atmospheres just to function – pressure equal to a mile below the ocean’s
surface246 – they require redundant processes and complex systems to manage the
reaction and ensure nothing goes wrong. Additionally, as Pressurized Water
Reactors present the potential for catastrophic environmental damage should a
reactor melt down or be destroyed through sabotage, they further require
extensive security infrastructure. Combined, these factors cause such reactors to
rank among the most expensive and over-engineered systems on the planet:

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Light Water Reactor fueled by Liquid Fluoride Thorium Molten Salt

uranium-235 Reactor (LFTR)

Fuel: Uranium-233 and thorium-232 in

Fuel: Uranium-dioxide solid fuel
a solution of molten lithium-fluoride
rods
salts

Fuel lifetime: Approximately two Fuel lifetime: 30 years without

years. Requires reactor shutdown replacement. Current reactor core
to replace. lifetime is in excess of six years

Fuel input per gigawatt Fuel input per gigawatt output: 1 ton
output: 250 tons uranium-235 thorium-232. 250 times more efficient

Annual fuel cost for 1-GW Annual fuel cost for 1-GW
reactor: $60 million reactor: $10,000 (estimated)

Total unit construction cost: $7.0 Total unit construction cost: $1.0
billion billion* (1-GW reactor)

Coolant: Highly pressurized water Coolant: Self-regulating with passive

with a graphite moderator gravity emergency shutdown

Weaponization potential: High Weaponization potential: Low

Physical footprint: 2,000-3,000 square

Physical footprint: 300,000 square
feet (size of a house). No buffer zone
feet + large buffer zone
required
Table Sources: 247
*Unit cost is expected to reduce over time due to scaling the learning curve of
manufacturing if constructing standardized systems.248

As LFTRs are spared the size, expense and security requirements of Light Water
Reactors, they can be built much smaller and less expensively. They can also be
built closer to population centers (as opposed to Pressurized Water Reactors that
need to be geographically isolated), considerably reducing the infrastructural
requirements to transmit power to electric grids.

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LFTRs can be built in a modular, prefabricated capacity. Today’s nuclear

reactors are designed as unique, custom systems that are each made to order –
significantly increasing their total cost. Yet recent improvements in
manufacturing today allow LFTRs to be built on assembly lines as iterations of
product models in the form of small modular reactors.

This provides two main benefits:

First, efficiencies inherent in modern manufacturing enable us to reduce

construction costs over time as more identical units are produced. This is often
referred to as “the learning curve,” or “learning ratio” – the reduction in
manufacturing cost every time the number of produced units doubles.249

In computing, Moore’s law has shown that computer processing power at a given
price doubles every two years.250 In aerospace manufacturing, the reduction in
per-unit cost has been roughly 20% every time the number of produced units has
doubled.251 As applicable to the manufacturing of Light Water Reactors, the
University of Chicago estimates a learning ratio of 10% in their 2004 study The
Economic Future of Nuclear Power.252 As LFTRs can be built on assembly lines, that
percentage would likely be higher, expected to be on the order of aerospace-grade
manufacturing.

But even at 10%, this would mean that by the time the 1,000th LFTR was
constructed it would cost around 40% of the first commercially produced unit.
This means that if the estimated price tag for a LFTR stands at $200 million
currently, as more units were produced that cost would fall over time – making
them increasingly more affordable and economically viable. The following except
is from Thorium: Energy Cheaper than Coal, written by Robert Hargreaves, PhD,
Professor of Nuclear Physics at Dartmouth University:

“Boeing, capable of manufacturing $200 million units daily, is a model for LFTR
production. Airplane manufacturing has many of the same critical issues as
manufacturing nuclear reactors: safety, reliability, strength of materials, corrosion,
regulatory compliance, design control, supply chain management and cost, for example.
Reactors of 100 [megawatt] in size costing $200 million can similarly be factory
produced. Manufacturing more, smaller reactors traverses the learning ratio more
rapidly. Producing one per day for 3 years creates 1,095 production experiences,
reducing costs by 65%.”

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The second main benefit of manufacturing LFTRs on an assembly line is

standardization, and standardization provides modularity. This becomes
important when building small modular reactors because not only are smaller,
modular and standardized reactors considerably less expensive to construct, they
are also easier to deploy.

If you recall, a core requirement of Universal Energy is widespread deployment,

as many regions that suffer from the consequences of resource scarcity are
geographically remote and/or feature terrain that’s hostile to the construction of
something as large as a power plant. A smaller LFTR manufactured on an
assembly line can be built rapidly and plugged into any grid in a relatively short
time period.

So if, for example, a region needed to quintuple its electricity generation capacity
in a matter of weeks, small modular LFTRs make this possible – and they make
this possible effectively anywhere. This also would pay dividends toward
disaster-relief efforts, peacekeeping missions, ocean trash cleanup and possibly
even space exploration.

How We Know It Works

The thorium fuel cycle has been known to science from the start of the atomic era,
and reactor designs associated with that cycle have been around since the 1950s.
The first successful use of thorium came from the Department of Energy’s MSRE
experiment, a 1960’s-era project from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory working
from prior research to build a molten salt reactor for aircraft propulsion.253 The 7.4
Megawatt reactor went online in 1965 and worked successfully for four years
until the experiment was cancelled in 1969 in favor of Light Water Reactors.254
Light Water Reactors eventually became the national standard largely because
they could produce both energy and weapons-grade nuclear material.255

While that unfortunate result came to pass, the results of the MSRE experiment
nonetheless conclusively showed that the reactor concept was viable,256 as have
other tests since. The MSRE experiment confirmed predictions and expectations,
showing the safety, efficiency and heat transfer potential for LFTRs was present
using 1965-era capabilities.257 Several other countries and companies have since
made progress on LFTR technology. Notable high-profile projects include:

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China: The Chinese government has invested $3.3 Billion into molten salt reactors
in Gansu province under the name “Thorium-Breeding Molten Salt Reactor
(TMSR).”258 These reactors are being built underground, and are intended to
generate up to 100 megawatts of power. Their reactor models heavily leverage
cogenerative design, intending to use excess energy to power other resource-
producing systems including fresh water, hydrogen and hydrocarbon fuels.259

Image source: 260

Although a large focus of this project is electricity for civilian usage, the Chinese
government hopes to apply the results of this project to military applications like
drones and future fast aircraft carriers.261 As reactor miniaturization would be
required for placement within something as small as a drone or warship, such an
advance would present significant implications for NATO states in both civilian
and military sectors – making a matching investment in LFTR technology all the
more pressing. As of this writing, the Chinese program intends to have a
functional reactor prototype by 2025 with large-scale commercialization by the
early 2030’s.262

The Netherlands: The Dutch NRG (Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group) is
one of the leading European nuclear service providers. They have constructed a
prototype Molten Salt Reactor that began fluoride salt irradiation on August 10th,
2018.263 Instead of turning a live reactor “critical” for sustained civilian power, the
NRG intends to conduct a series of experiments (referred to as SALIENT) to

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reinforce the validity of thorium energy and use the experiments as templates for
future LFTR development.264

Unique among other thorium R&D efforts outside of G8 states is the NRG’s
installation in Petten, which has all of the decontamination, cleaning, salt
production, radiation shielding and fine element analysis equipment to build a
nuclear reactor in-house.265 As a semi-private venture, the NRG can now compete
with state-level actors to fine-tune the necessary manufacturing requirements to
achieve LFTR viability.

India: A nuclear power since the 1950’s, India is no stranger to the promise,
challenges, and risks inherent to atomic energy. Yet among members of the
“nuclear club,” India is unique in that it has the largest thorium reserves of any
sovereign nation – some 11.5 million metric tons.266 This has led India to accelerate
research and development on thorium-powered molten salt reactors as a part of
its three-stage nuclear program.267

India’s latest effort is the Kalpakkam prototype fast breeder reactor, designed to
generate 500 megawatts of electricity. The Kalpakkam prototype is expected to
reach criticality by the early 2020s.268

Explaining the benefits of the reactor model to the Times of India, the Director
General of the International Atomic Energy Agency noted that “fast reactors can
help extract up to 70 percent more energy than traditional reactors and are safer than
traditional reactors while reducing long-lived radioactive waste by several fold.” It’s
worth noting for our purposes that while fast breeder reactors are akin to LFTRs
in both theory and function, and present promising results even in initial
prototype stages, the designs have had stability issues in the past and present
varied engineering challenges to long-term stability.269

For this reason, India has been running a forerunner reactor to the prototype
they’re building in Kalpakkam under the Fast-Breeder Test Reactor program. This
smaller reactor has had its own technical challenges, yet has reliably produced
impressive amounts of energy even while operating at significantly less than total
capacity.270 In doing so, it has provided Indian nuclear scientists with the data
needed to complete the larger Kalpakkam reactor – which itself can be used as a
stepping stone to further advancement in breeder reactors that leverage the
thorium fuel cycle. The third stage of India’s nuclear program is designed to use
thorium exclusively.271

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Russia: while India has nearly completed their prototype fast breeder reactor,
Russia has successfully deployed the technology since the early 1980s at the
Beloyarsk Nuclear Power Station. The station currently operates two fast breeder
reactors – the only two in the world that are currently operational – respectively
generating 600 and 885 megawatts each. However, unlike Indian variants, these
Russian fast breeder reactors are fueled by enriched uranium, due to plentiful
Russian reserves and the security “benefit” of uranium’s dual support of civilian
energy and nuclear armament.

Things are changing, however, as Russia is currently developing a high-

temperature breeder reactor fueled by thorium, which, like China’s variant, is
expected to divert waste heat energy to desalinate seawater and extract
hydrogen.272 This Russian reactor will also be partially fueled by discarded
weapons-grade material – paying homage to the ability of Molten Salt Reactors to
safety generate electricity as a byproduct of armament reduction initiatives.273
Professor Sergey Bedenko from the School of Nuclear Science & Engineering at
Tomsk Polytechnic University and a co-author of a paper274 on the project, noted:

“Current reprocessing and recycling technologies still results in radioactive waste that
contains plutonium…Our technology tackles this problem as it allows 97% of weapons-
grade plutonium to be [consumed].”

The main advantage of such plants will be their multi-functionality…Firstly, we

efficiently dispose one of the most dangerous radioactive fuels in thorium reactors,
secondly, we generate power and heat, thirdly, with its help, it will be possible to develop
industrial hydrogen production."

This project also has the benefit of state backing. As of 2016, President Vladimir
Putin has directed Russia’s state energy institutes, Rosatom and Kurchatov, to
deliver a proposal on how to leverage thorium for next-generation reactors while
improving thorium procurement through rare-earth metal extraction.275 As
reactor technology improves with future research and development, we may see
more sophisticated Russian LFTRs that can be manufactured at scale.

Germany: As of this writing, Germany has transitioned from nuclear power to a

more renewable-focused approach in response to anti-nuclear political
pressure.276 The results have been mixed at best, and Germany still relies heavily
on coal to complement the intermittency and unreliability of using renewables for
baseload power.277 Germany once had functional thorium reactors that operated

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at high efficiencies and output. Although the design wasn’t a Molten Salt Reactor,
their THTR-300 high-temperature thorium reactor worked successfully between
1985 and 1989,278 but was decommissioned in favor of light-water reactors.
Despite its higher costs and unique engineering requirements, the experimental
THTR-300 reactor proved thorium’s viability as a fuel and presented a rich supply
of test data for future high-temperature reactors.

The United States: as the world’s first nuclear power, the United States has
extensive experience with atomic energy. Nearly all nuclear engineering today is
derived from American designs – including reactors fueled by thorium.

Yet most of these reactors were designed with the intent of providing an ample
supply of weapons-grade nuclear material alongside a civilian power program,
and the United States remains the only nation in the world to deploy a nuclear
weapon in an armed conflict. For these reasons, alongside debates over how to
dispose of the nuclear waste associated with Pressurized Water Reactors, atomic
energy in America faces significant political resistance – even though it generated
60% of our emissions-free power in 2016.279

The political mood is changing, however. 2016 saw the first new American
nuclear reactor to come online in decades,280 and that reactor now generates
enough energy to power 650,000 homes.281 Myriad companies, from startups to
long-established nuclear engineering firms, are now exploring advances in
thorium reactor technology. Several are even investing in “microreactors,” scaled-
down modular reactor designs that can be mass-produced on assembly lines.
Although some would still use uranium-235, the mass-produced approach is still
important for several reasons:

First, it leverages one of the attributes that makes America the world’s wealthiest
economy: its ability to build sophisticated systems on a large scale. When it comes
to mass-producing cutting-edge technology with minimal room for error,
America’s manufacturing prowess shines brightest. This gives the United States
perhaps the best advantage when mass-manufacturing modular reactors on
assembly lines to a single standard.

Second, the advances made in miniaturizing reactor technology – even if still

fueled by uranium-235 – can be extended to miniaturizing LFTR technology in
the future, lowering costs, barriers to entry, and barriers to scale.

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Third, microreactors can be built small enough to deliver via train, ship, or even
truck or aircraft. That enables them to be transported and deployed effectively
anywhere – a key goal of Universal Energy.

Several companies are proving to be pioneers in this future frontier of nuclear

energy, both within and outside of thorium:

• Westinghouse’s eVinci’s microreactor design is factory built, fueled and

assembled. It’s also small enough to transport on a truck, and boasts a 0.06
acre footprint with less than 30 days onsite installation.282 It can match the
energy output of up to 380 acres of wind turbines and 79 acres of solar
panels.283 And at zero emissions, the equivalent energy output with diesel
would produce 230 million pounds of CO2. It was partially envisioned to
power military bases and research stations in frigid climates where wind
turbines freeze, sun is scarce and diesel fuel is the only viable source of
energy. Westinghouse’s current designs – planned for release in 2024 –
estimate constant operation for upwards of ten years without refueling.284

• Corvallis, Oregon-based NuScale Power has its own microreactor

designs. Their Small Modular Reactor is designed to provide scalable
power generation up to 720 megawatts. While based on the light-water
model, their modular design eliminates two-thirds of the internal parts of
traditional Pressurized Water Reactors and also incorporates a passive
auto-shutdown that doesn’t require external power, additional water or
operator action. These distinctions present critical advantages over
previous reactor designs, not only in terms of safety but also because they
avoid the need for the redundant and expensive containment systems.

At a deployment area of 15x82 feet, the containment vessel and reactor

core are roughly 5% of the size of a traditional nuclear power plant285 -
small enough to be delivered by rail, barge or truck. To date, the company
has secured more than $300 million in funding from the Department of
Energy.286 They plan to construct a 12-module Small Modular Reactor
plant at the Idaho National Laboratory by 2026,287 that would provide up
to 720 megawatts of emissions-free power.288

• General Atomics is a defense contractor specializing in aerospace and

nuclear engineering. As a former subsidiary of General Dynamics, it’s
been on the front lines of nuclear advancement since its

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commercialization, with a proven track record of building reliable high-

performing reactors. Their latest reactor concept is billed as an “Energy
Multiplier Module,” which is a series of modular microreactors that can
be deployed together as a unit and buried below ground.289

Image Source: General Atomics

General Atomics reactor designs mimic the benefits of LFTRs in function

– breeding, automatic operation for up to 30 years, passive non-
mechanical safety measures, the ability to consume both nuclear waste
and weapons-grade material as fuel and a high-temperature loop that can
be used for supplemental resource production. Although the design is still
in concept stages, they have received more than $60 million in funding
thus far from the Department of Energy, and continue to join other
companies domestically and abroad in developing Small Modular
Reactors.290

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• Terrestrial Energy is a joint Canadian-U.S. startup specializing in

thorium-fueled molten salt reactors. It has been working alongside the
United States Department of Energy and Oak Ridge National Laboratory
to bring smaller-scale LFTRs to market.291 Larger than a microreactor yet
significantly smaller than a traditional nuclear power plant, their patented
Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR) is modular in design and scalable
from 80 to 600 Megawatts on 17 acres or less.292 As with any LFTR,
Terrestrial Energy’s design includes secondary and tertiary heat loops for
supplemental resource production. The company is expecting to start their
first reactors by the 2020’s with larger-scale commercial viability
thereafter.293

As designed, each of these modular reactors can be assembled in groups

to meet the output of base load power.

The litany of investments in LFTR and other small modular reactor technologies
are made because we know these technologies will work, as prototype after
prototype have proven it so. We know reactor miniaturization works because
we’ve designed and built miniature reactors after thousands of iterations of
modeling and tests. We know that standardization and modularity in the design
of advanced systems gives way to greater scalability and flexibility in
deployment, because we’ve seen these concepts produce this exact effect in every
other industry they’ve been employed.

The developed world isn’t investing many billions of dollars into next-generation
nuclear technology on a whim, nor would it do so if the science was in doubt. It’s
perhaps for this reason why market growth in microreactor technology is
increasing at an annual rate of 19%294 - the investment follows the data, and the
data supports the investment.

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What About Costs and Criticisms?

It must be mentioned that atomic energy has critics who doubt the technology’s
viability on grounds ranging from safety, waste, and proliferation to economic
and logistical feasibility. Some critics see nuclear, in and of itself, as a
fundamentally unredeemable technology. Others bring up points that are valid
in abstract, yet are used to cast inappropriately generalized aspersions on
nuclear’s promise. Thorium, of course, is no exception.

While there are myriad sources that might articulate these criticisms, I’ve chosen
three articles for their accessible language and range of arguments. The first two
argue against nuclear as a concept, and the third argues against thorium
specifically.

I invite you to review them individually, in full, so that you understand where
they’re coming from in their own words.

The first article is a February 2019 piece in ThinkProgress entitled “Taxpayers should
not fund Bill Gates’ nuclear albatross,” which casts doubt on Bill Gates’ effort to
address climate change by increasing nuclear’s American market share.295 The
author, Joe Romm, writes:

“The reality is that nuclear power is so uneconomical that existing U.S. nuclear power
plants are bleeding cash — and in many places it’s now cheaper to build and run new
wind or solar farms than to simply run an existing nuclear power plant. Saving the
existing unprofitable nuclear plants would require a subsidy of at least $5 billion a year,
according to an analysis last July by the Brattle Group. So, given existing plants are so
uneconomic, it’s no shock that building and financing an entire new fleet of nuclear
plants is wildly unaffordable — especially since a new nuclear plant can cost $10 billion
or more.”

The second article is from Popular Mechanics, entitled “The Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
'Green New Deal' Wants to Get Rid of Nuclear Power. That's a Great Idea.”296 The
author, Avery Thompson, had this to say:

“…nuclear simply has too many downsides to ever be a viable way to produce electricity
in the U.S. Primarily, it's just too damn hard and expensive to build new nuclear
capacity in 21st century America. To see why, take a look at the Watts Bar 2 nuclear

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power plant. Watts Bar 2 started supplying power in June of 2016, becoming the first
nuclear power plant to be built in the U.S. in two decades. Overall, Watts Bar 2 was the
result of 37 years of construction. For most of that period the reactor simply languished
in a sort of economic limbo. Construction was halted in 1985 due to low energy prices
and only resumed in 2007. At that point, Watts Bar 2 faced another decade of
construction delays and cost overruns. The reactor was initially scheduled to be
completed in 2013; delays pushed back the start date to 2015 and again to 2016. The
initial cost was estimated to be $2.5 billion; the final cost, after a series of unanticipated
hurdles, was $4.7 billion…Reactors are gigantic beasts, and sustaining a nuclear
reaction while drawing power from it requires an absurd level of engineering. Reactors
are expensive, bulky, and complicated, to say nothing of the waste products they produce
or the fear of a catastrophe like Chernobyl or Fukushima.”

Lastly, there’s the thorium-specific criticism written in The Guardian nearly a

decade ago.297 In June 2011, Eifion Rees, an ecologist who advocates for a post-
industrial “ecolocracy” (his words), wrote a piece titled “Don't believe the spin on
thorium being a greener nuclear option.” In summary, Rees makes the case that
thorium is merely a way to deflect attention from the dangers of the uranium fuel
cycle within Pressurized Water Reactors that would still be used until thorium
had proven large-scale commercial viability.

He states that the nuclear industry itself remains skeptical of thorium and cites
the 2010 paper from the UK’s National Nuclear Laboratory298 mentioned earlier
in support. Rees continues that that even if LFTR waste is much shorter lived, it
will still be toxic and emit harmful radiation. Rees’s final point is that the
effectiveness of renewables is rapidly improving, so even if thorium proves itself
in the next 30 years (by Rees’ assessed timeline), it will arrive to solve a problem
that’s no longer present. He concludes that the combination of these factors make
thorium too new, too untrusted, too potentially dangerous, and too expensive
when we already have an energy solution – renewables – in hand.

These articles and mindsets were cited verbatim because I believe in intellectual
honesty. They were also cited because they’re wrong. Not just on the facts when
it comes to 2020-era technology, but also just as importantly on the role of nuclear
in the context of the energy, resource and ecological requirements of our time.

To explain why, we’ll boil down the primary arguments of these three pieces (and
the NNL assessment299 cited in The Guardian) into three overarching claims that
we’ll review in order.

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• Claim One: Nuclear energy is too expensive in terms of cost and safety,
and always will be, thus we should focus exclusively on renewables.

• Claim Two: Thorium’s an unproven technology with unproven viability,

thus we should focus exclusively on renewables.

• Claim Three: Thorium advocates overstate its waste and proliferation

benefits, thus we should focus exclusively on renewables.

Claim: Too Expensive

Nuclear power is sophisticated technology, and sophisticated technology costs

money. This feeds into a common narrative from nuclear detractors that atomic
energy is cost-prohibitive. If waste and proliferation concerns weren’t enough,
they say, there’s simply too many expenses behind nuclear engineering,
deployment, operation and safety to make the technology viable.

Some of these concerns have merit in abstract. But they don’t necessarily apply to
nuclear as a technology any more than concerns about burning zeppelins apply
to aircraft as a technology. Further, nearly all focus on Pressurized Water Reactors
and point to their drawbacks as cause to paint the entire field of atomic science
with a wide brush.

The reason why this chapter focused on smaller LFTRs and made repeated
mention of small modular reactors (even if powered by uranium-235) is because
they avoid these problems, particularly cost criticisms, by design. Large-scale
Pressurized Water Reactors further present major safety hazards if things go
wrong, especially as they increase in size. They need massive containment and
cooling apparatuses, redundant safety mechanisms, security features, buffer
zones and control systems. These highly expensive components are not necessary
for LFTR and newer small modular reactor designs. That alone is a differentiating
cost factor on the scale of billions of dollars.

Then there’s the fact that most every power plant in America today – nuclear
especially – is built as a unique entity, designed and deployed to order. The
plant’s concrete, metal, wiring, HVAC, control systems, thermal management,
waste processing, plumbing, walkways, stairwells, doors and all points in

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between are designed, architected and engineered from the ground up each and every
time – as is the regulatory approval for each specific building site.

For every nuclear power plant thus far built, a company gathered an architect,
structural engineer, nuclear engineer, electrical engineer, environmental
engineer, fluid engineer and mechanical engineer to design the plant. Then they
hired the contractors to build it, the banks to fund it, the insurance companies to
underwrite it, the bond companies to back it, the lawyers to sign off on it and the
regulators to approve it. And if they wanted to build another, they then had to
wipe the slate clean and do it all over again from scratch because the math and
materials that worked for plant A didn’t work for plant B.

It’s no wonder, then, how a nuclear plant can cost billions to construct today. Any
system of any level of sophistication would cost the same under those
circumstances. If your car had to be built this way, it would cost millions of
dollars. If a commercial aircraft had to be built this way, it also would cost billions
of dollars. Automated manufacturing changes this, as it does in any other
sophisticated industry. It started with Ford’s assembly line and now works to
build jetliners. Once we apply automated manufacturing to nuclear, the same cost
effectiveness will be achieved as it has in literally every other industry automated
manufacturing has been employed.

Another major additional cost contributor is inappropriate regulation. Nuclear

power carries a requisite responsibility of standards and demonstrated
operational expertise to develop at scale, and regulations are of course critical to
appropriately determine safety and proper function. However, many of these
regulations are antiquated and more appropriately geared to deal with
Pressurized Water Reactors on the scale of a base load power stations designed
and built using 1970’s-era technology. When it comes to the construction of
molten salt reactors or small modular reactors in power modules, these
regulations present obstacles that are disproportionate for the level of technical
deployment.

Take paperwork, for example. While paperwork is an unavoidable reality of

regulatory compliance, American nuclear plants today annually spend between
$7 million - $16 million just to document such compliance.300 As the annual
regulatory liability of a nuclear plant today hovers around $60 million, those cost
figures add up.301 And that’s just the costs for running a nuclear power plant.
Construction of new plants can only begin after waiting nearly a decade for

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regulatory approval – a hard sell to any entity that must bleed cash for fees and
loan interest before even breaking ground.302

This most certainly doesn’t mean that regulations in and of themselves are a bad
thing – especially for an industry as sophisticated as atomic energy. But the goal
of regulation should be to ensure safety and ideal standards of operation. They
shouldn’t hinder the nuclear industry by requiring 2019-era technology to comply
with regulations geared to 1970’s-era reactor designs.303 Nor should they make
nuclear technology jump through unnecessary financial hoops, the costs of which
are then pointed at to feed a narrative of financial unviability in a self-fulfilling
prophecy. We regulate plenty of other sophisticated industries: commercial
aerospace, private space ventures, submersible crafts and industrial chemistry
without burdening them to insolvency. We can and should do the same with
nuclear.

When we summarize the costs behind past implementations of nuclear, we see

many of them – non-standardized and ad-hoc construction, outdated regulatory
schemas and inappropriately expensive compliance requirements, focus on large
size as opposed to modular scalability – are untrimmed fat. Once we start mass-
producing small modular reactors for flexible deployment to a single standard,
manufacturing costs plummet. As regulations shift towards next-generation
nuclear built on that standard, costs of regulatory compliance, research and
development, maintenance, and scalability will concordantly follow suit.

Further, in touting renewables as an immediate alternative, advocates correctly

celebrate their benefits yet also ignore the costs of renewable integration on a
comprehensive or even base load scale. Universal Energy’s model seeks to
minimize these costs by way of municipal infrastructure. Yet barring a
hyperbolically expansive scale of deployment, there’s no way to generate true
base load energy on the scale of Universal Energy’s target with renewables alone
without prohibitively expensive and logistically daunting land purchases. And
that’s without looking at the cost of the renewable technology itself, either
levelized, maintenance, replacement or end-of-life processing.

It will cost money no matter what energy source we employ to solve future energy
needs – and costs will vary depending on how they’re integrated. Both
renewables and clean nuclear can and should be employed to their greatest
strengths and cost efficiencies. But suggesting that nuclear is too expensive while
touting renewables as an inexpensive alternative makes hefty omissions about the

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ultimate costs of end-to-end renewable implementation. It also makes hefty

omissions towards manufacturing, transporting and installing said renewables in
a carbon-emitting supply chain – saying nothing of the immense material
extraction required to do so. Once those factors are included in the analysis (as
we’ll see shortly), the circumstances change quickly.

Claim: Unproven

In a vacuum, the critics are right: thorium-fueled LFTRs, and for that matter,
uranium-fueled Small Modular Reactors, have yet to prove themselves as large-
scale viable technologies. But no emergent technology in history has ever arrived
to market with “proven viability.” In 1890, the car had unproven viability; the
same goes for aircraft in 1910. The computer had unproven viability in the 1970’s.
The touch smartphone had unproven viability in the early 2000’s – Microsoft CEO
Steve Ballmer famously said the iPhone would “never gain market share.”304 The
internet, even, had unproven viability – one of the foremost computer scientists
at the time dismissed it as a fantasy in a February 1995 article in Newsweek entitled
“Why The Web Won’t Be Nirvana.” The author, Clifford Stoll, PhD, wrote:

“After two decades online, I'm perplexed. It's not that I haven't had a gas of a good time
on the Internet…But today, I'm uneasy about this most trendy and oversold
community. Visionaries see a future of telecommuting workers, interactive libraries and
multimedia classrooms. They speak of electronic town meetings and virtual
communities. Commerce and business will shift from offices and malls to networks and
modems. And the freedom of digital networks will make government more democratic.
Baloney! Do our computer pundits lack all common sense? The truth is no online
database will replace your daily newspaper, no CD-ROM can take the place of a
competent teacher and no computer network will change the way government works.”

It could be that Mr. Stoll or Mr. Ballmer might find comradery with Mr. Romm,
Mr. Thompson, Mr. Rees, and other critics today. Expertise in a specialized focus
can lend itself to tunnel vision that hinders views of the larger picture. Emergent
technologies always need refinement. That’s how technology works. That’s how
it has always worked.

That’s why data storage went from a million dollars per gigabyte in the 1980s to
less than ten cents per gigabyte today.305 That’s why your smartphone, laptop or
flat screen television doesn’t cost millions of dollars today. That’s why you can

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send a video to any continent on the planet within seconds, whereas back when
JFK was President an intercontinental call could cost a small fortune.

Technology emerges, designs improve, innovations are incorporated – and the

market responds. In an era where we can manufacture error-unacceptable
systems on assembly lines in a matter of days, it’s actually quite possible to mass-
produce a technology that avoids the drawbacks of designs chosen in the 1960s
specifically because they helped make hydrogen bombs. Now that it’s 2020 and
nations worldwide are pouring billions into thorium, there’s no reason to wager
they’ll fail, particularly since:

• The 1960’s MSR experiment was successful and proved thorium workable.

• Germany’s THTR-300 proved the thorium fuel cycle workable.

• The Chinese TMSR has proven thorium breeder reactors workable.

• India’s fast breeder reactor has proven the science behind thorium.

• Russia - the only nuclear power on par with the United States - has proven
fast breeder reactors workable, and are currently investing in advanced
thorium reactors.

• North American companies, including Westinghouse, NuScale Power,

Terrestrial Energy, and General Atomics have proven that LFTRs, Small
Modular Reactors, and Molten Salt Reactors are all workable.

None of these countries or companies deal in fantasy – and they wouldn’t

collectively devote tens of billions to fantasy, either. The thousands of highly
educated women and men working with them, their peer-reviewed studies, the
prototypes they’ve built and the agencies that issued them grants are all behind
the future viability of both thorium and Small Modular Reactor designs.

That we need to iron out some present challenges to realizing large-scale

commercial deployment isn’t an indictment of the technology – it’s a reflection of
opportunity. Every globalized technology in history has risen to meet these
challenges, and the international efforts and investments behind thorium stand
to repeat the same result.

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Claim: Weapons and Waste

We spoke to weaponization earlier in the chapter. LFTRs and the thorium fuel
cycle can be weaponized in theory, but not easily and not practically by military
standards. That’s the important distinction: it’s theoretically possible for a state to
make a crude bomb with uranium-233 or neptunium-237. But that says nothing
about miniaturizing the bomb into a missile-driven warhead or keeping the
mechanisms stable for long-term storage, nor the ability to do these things in
secret – all of which are required capabilities to present even a moderate threat.
Most nuclear powers today have thermonuclear capabilities that uranium-233 or
neptunium-237 can’t meet in a best-case scenario, and no state’s going to raise the
scales in a conflict to a nuclear fight they’re certain to lose badly.

When considering terrorism, terrorist organizations fundamentally lack the

material procurement power and expertise needed to manufacture such a weapon
– let alone source the tools needed to do so. And when an inexpensive home gene
editing kit306 or a basic knowledge of industrial chemistry307 could wreak as much
havoc as a dirty bomb, denying humanity the most powerful source of baseload-
scale power we have in the name of thwarting terrorism seems foolish.

The waste angle, too, is highly contextual. Yes, nuclear waste is dangerous and
toxic – including waste from thorium. But thorium’s waste lasts for only 300 years
compared to the millennia from waste from the uranium-235 fuel cycle.308 And
most nuclear waste being produced today still has potential to function as fuel
within Molten Salt Reactors309 – which by itself only needs one ton of thorium to
generate one gigawatt of energy.310

Of the waste that one ton produces, 83% becomes stable in 18 years, with the
remaining 17% reaching stability ~282 years later.311 It’s well within the realm of
feasibility for us to hold that waste in secure underground facilities for that
timeline, especially since the most danger occurs only during the first few decades
of storage, with the material becomes progressively safer over time.

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Image source. 312

Nuclear critics say that’s still unacceptable, and that we’re still better off sticking
with renewables. Yet even though renewables are essential for a clean energy
future, they’re far from waste free – and it’s highly disingenuous to suggest
otherwise. Wind turbines are difficult to recycle and often end up in landfills (the
bulldozer in the below-left image is the size of a school bus). Solar panels produce
gallium-arsenide (arsenic) and chemical batteries contain strong acids and heavy
metals like mercury, lead and cadmium.313 These are highly toxic substances that
don’t lose their toxicity over time as radioactive materials do. Once they leech into the
environment, they become a permanent part of it.

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Then there’s the material question. From the table above, we see that the materials
required to manufacture solar panels weigh in at 16,447 metric tons per terawatt
of generating capacity314 (one terawatt = one billion kilowatts). At 10,260 metric
tons, wind comes in third.315 Mindful of Universal Energy’s annual generation
target of 12.5 trillion kilowatt-hours (12,500 terawatt-hours), this would require a
daily energy generation capacity of at least 34.25 terawatt-hours. For sake of
argument, a power-generation capacity of 34.25 terawatts under these figures
would translate to a material throughput of 534,530 metric tons for solar and some
351,400 metric tons for wind. And that’s just for the United States, some 4.3% of
humanity. The rest of the world’s material requirements to exclusively leverage
renewables would represent an even higher order of magnitude.

Such figures don’t incorporate the carbon emissions or waste footprint inherent
to sourcing these materials in the first place – nor the emissions produced in the
manufacture of billions of solar panels or wind turbines. Nor do they incorporate
the carbon emissions and cost externalities – both financial and ecological –
presented by transporting, installing and wiring billions of solar panels and wind
turbines, which, in such implementations, would certainly require vast purchases
of expensive land.317 Think of how many copper or rare earth mines we’d need.
How much diesel fuel we’d consume. How many non-recyclable materials or
toxic chemicals we’d produce or dispose of at any step of the supply chain.
The waste implications involved with such considerations are enormous, as are
the environmental impacts.

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For example, the following image shows the Escondida copper mine in Chile:

This image shows the Mountain Pass rare earth mine in California, which sources
the lithium-ion needed for advanced batteries.

This image shows the Katanga copper-cobalt mine in Congo-Kinshasa.

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Those examples are only three mines of thousands worldwide. Also not shown are
the processing plants, smelting facilities, or human toils required in any of the
extractive efforts required to rely on a renewable-exclusive portfolio for our
future energy needs – nor the ultimate end-state waste created once these systems
are ultimately discarded. These considerations, even in a vacuum, carry immense
humanitarian and ecological consequences. The following images show child
workers mining cobalt and lithium for rechargeable batteries:

These images show large volumes of discarded electronics (e-waste):

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Should our civilization move to a renewable-exclusive energy portfolio, these

images would represent barely a fraction of the environmental pillaging and
humanitarian maladies that would consequently arise. That’s the
uncompromising reality of facts as they are – renewables don’t grow on trees.

In this mention, it’s important to re-emphasize that use of lithium-ion, cobalt,

copper or rare earth metals isn’t inherently destructive in and of itself – nor are
the laudable efforts to switch to either renewables or next-generation battery
technology to help wean the global supply chain off of fossil fuels. But it’s
nonetheless vital to recognize that exclusive reliance on these technologies in a
carbon-emitting manufacturing chain comes with massive ecological and
humanitarian consequences that still manifest even if out of sight and mind of the
developed-world consumer. The inclusion of such technologies remain central in
the Universal Energy framework because the negative aspects associated with
them would drastically reduce (if not vanish) should they become sourced,
processed and recycled under a clean, carbon-neutral nuclear power schema.

Simply stated: clean nuclear is the key to making renewables truly clean.

Most importantly, the Universal Energy framework is made possible only by the
cogenerative benefits of high-temperature reactors. Without that energy source,
we can’t extract fresh water and hydrogen fuel from billions of gallons of
seawater, nor can we initially keep that water hot to store energy generated from
renewables on a nationwide scale. We’re left with chemical batteries that carry an
intensive material throughput themselves – now on a massive scale – yet without
the energy abundance needed to solve resource scarcity. All that effort, time and
material invested – along with what would certainly be trillions of dollars – and
we’d still be facing the same malady that’s dogged us from the dawn of time.

In that context, storing a few hundred barrels of radioactive material that becomes
inert in 300 years is the better option – all the more so since Universal Energy still
employs renewables to their greatest strengths within municipal infrastructure.
But as we’re only able to manufacture renewables in a carbon-free capacity with
next-generation nuclear, the numbers behind renewables as a singular solution
don’t add up even if we had the capital and material basis to pull off such an
endeavor. As we don’t, the waste implications of attempting to do so far eclipse
anything nuclear brings to bear – and no amount of selective criticism or
ideological advocacy is going to change that.

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Moving Forward

Building a clean energy future requires investment into technologies capable of

delivering such ends. As circumstances stand today, only thorium and
renewables, working together, are capable of meeting this challenge. Yet
deploying thorium as a base load solution requires investment and additional
research that necessitates an appropriate social focus.

Yet there are outside forces slowing down this process – some of which we have
already familiarized ourselves with. Because of the social hesitancy around
nuclear power, politicians are often less eager to embrace advances in the
technology. It is, of course, politically safer to stage photo-ops in front of wind
turbines and solar panels while quietly pivoting towards coal or natural gas for
baseload power when the cameras are turned off. This is effectively what
Germany has done.318

But that’s not good enough anymore. The future risks to humanity’s long-term
resource supplies, the state of Earth’s warming climate, the state of future
population growth, and the corresponding state of future ecological collapse rank
among the most serious problems our species has ever faced. And in the short-
term future we will be facing all of them, more or less simultaneously.

Depending on renewables alone will not generate the immense energy required
to provide for our needs and long-term growth estimates. Depending on
renewables alone will not bring about an abundance of raw, inexpensive energy
required to synthetically produce resources to an effectively unlimited scale.
Depending on renewables alone will not extend baseload energy redundancy and
reliability to provide all this and more for the indefinite future. There must be a
political and social inflection point to recognize this reality.

By themselves, neither renewables nor nuclear can meet this challenge.

Proponents of both technologies must realize that meeting future energy and
resource challenges will require a joint venture between both – at maximal
investment and output – working together in synchronicity. Nothing short of that
end will get us to where we need to be.319

When the political and social will becomes present – a likelier “when” than “if”
due to the realities of future energy and resource needs320 – politicians need to
consider regulatory streamlining. As we reviewed earlier, new nuclear initiatives

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face challenges that are as much regulatory as they are technical,321 and that’s a
problem that needs to change.322 Regulation is a necessary – yet significant –
component of the cost of implementing atomic energy, and regulators need both
the freedom and impetus to craft regulations for 2019-era technology.

From there, we can begin to delve into the engineering nuances required to
develop modular thorium reactors that can be safely mass-produced to a single
standard. The aerospace industry is a perfect model for this goal, as it has
automated the fast-turnaround construction of highly-sophisticated systems with
extremely tight tolerances and even lower margins for error. If Boeing can mass-
manufacture a commercial jetliner in nine days under these requirements,323 we
can do the same for modular reactors. Even so, some of the open considerations
involving these engineering nuances include:

Design and process optimization. Molten salt reactors may not be a new
technology in concept, but they have neither the research behind them nor the
operational hours of Pressurized Water Reactors fueled by uranium-235. This has
left several outstanding technical challenges. Among them:

• Whether the reactor design should use a one or two-fluid exchanger, both
of which present engineering tradeoffs.324

• How to minimize corrosion of the reactor moderator (which used to be

graphite, but would now be replaced with molybdenum alloys that have
far greater resistance to fluoride salts and damage from fast neutrons).325

• How to prevent salt freezing if the reactor heat gets too low.326

• How to remove excess beryllium from the fluid exchanger.327

• How to contain gamma emissions from the uranium-232 within the

reactor.328

Meeting these challenges is absolutely feasible – as we’ve solved harder

problems at larger scales – but they still must be addressed.

Reactor ignition. Currently, there isn’t a standardized method to turn a Molten

Salt Reactor “critical” and keep it operating for sustained power. Thorium is an
excellent fuel source within breeder reactors, but that reaction has to be started

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somehow.329 New reactor designs (of any type) are frequently ignited by an array
of neutron sources.330 But some of the most portable include beryllium and
americium,331 which are safer and less expensive than either radium or plutonium
that could also serve in this function.332 Science and industry will need to
determine if these methods work for thorium, and, if not, to identify a method
that minimizes safety risk and doesn’t come with strict security controls.

Extra proliferation prevention. We’ve touched on the difficulties inherent to

using the thorium fuel cycle to make a nuclear weapon, but any standardized
design brought to market should include internal mechanisms to make that even
harder. Deliberate material contamination, integrated process software to verify
the presence of automated control systems (hash comparison),333 and “call home”
features that remotely alert the manufacturer should unauthorized tampering
occur are all available options that can perform this function. Any new nuclear
standard must include the most effective anti-proliferation mechanisms as a
function of domestic and international law.

Export designs, controls and marketing. Universal Energy and the technology it
proposes seeks to create a new market for large-scale energy generation, one with
nigh-limitless economic potential in developing and modernizing nations. How
we market such technologies, and what controls we place on them, are issues that
must be negotiated between private industry, global regulators, and diplomatic
and security services. Once such technologies reach greater degrees of maturity,
haste becomes critical, as we never want to be playing catch up in a global market
against foreign competitors who got the jump on American innovation.

It’s well within our capabilities to answer these questions and address these
challenges, and do so in a way that revolutionizes our approach to the most
powerful source of energy we have ever discovered. If we were to truly invest in
Molten Salt Reactor and microreactor technologies, it would lay the foundation
for a clean, sustainable, affordable, and rapidly-deployable means of baseload
power generation nationwide. We could advance our world and support the
American economy for generations in one stroke. And while this would present
yet another tool, alongside renewables, to dramatically multiply our potential for
energy generation, it also would serve a more direct and even more important
function: excess energy for fresh water and hydrogen fuel.

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I believe that water will one day be employed as fuel, that hydrogen and oxygen which
constitute it, used singly or together, will furnish an inexhaustible source of heat and
light.

- Jules Verne

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Chapter Five: Water and

Hydrogen
Of the resources facing impending scarcity, water and fuel are especially
important as they respectively make life possible and power vital aspects of our
advanced economy. They are also critical to growing, processing and delivering
food. Consequently, these resources are the most likely to drag us into conflict
when they run low – which is unsurprisingly why we've been fighting over them
throughout much of history. Universal Energy seeks to solve this problem by
generating enough energy to synthesize these resources, further enabling us to
produce synthetic building materials on an effectively unlimited scale.

With renewables and thorium in place, the next focus is seawater.

It’s important to note in this context that humanity isn’t facing a water crisis in
abstract; we’re facing, specifically, a freshwater crisis. 71% of the planet’s surface
is covered by water, yet less than 2% of that water is fresh – and 80% of that
freshwater is locked in polar ice.334 For consumption purposes, that last 20% of
freshwater - 0.4% of all water on our planet – is the only percentage that has
historically mattered. Thanks to modern seawater desalination technologies, that
is no longer true today.

The desalination of seawater is a well-proven concept.335 The same is true with

extracting hydrogen fuel from water via electrolysis, as running an electric
current through water chemically separates it into hydrogen and oxygen.336 Yet
both processes require lots of energy, which has traditionally made them
expensive. The energy generated by LFTRs and municipally integrated
renewables removes energy cost as a major factor, allowing us to extract fresh
water and hydrogen fuel from seawater on a massive scale.

This begins with a system known as a Multi-Stage Flash Distillation Chamber

(MSFD),337 as seen in this diagram:

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338

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An MSFD facility features a series of interconnected chambers (referred to as

“stages”) set at varied temperatures and pressures relating to the boiling point of
water. Seawater is pumped in through one end and heated to reach a certain
temperature. Once at the right temperature, it’s then pumped into subsequent
stages, each of which has a different temperature and pressure. This process
forces seawater to instantly flash-turn to steam, which is then collected via a
condenser and turned into liquid fresh water.

From there, the remaining hot brine is pumped back into the system
to counterflow with the influx of cold seawater, helping to heat new seawater and
recycle a majority of heat energy in the process.339 What waste remains is
essentially very salty water, which can be evaporated to leave only salt.

Diagram of counterflow heat exchanger:

Image source.340

MSFD is common today; 60% of all desalinated seawater in the world341 is

produced through this method, and more than 18,000 MSFD facilities exist
globally.342 However, MSFD is an energy-intensive process with high operating
expenses, making it more difficult to justify at larger scales. Universal Energy
seeks to lower the cost of multi-stage flash distillation, giving us the ability to
desalinate unlimited amounts of fresh water as a function of the framework.

The use of the word “unlimited” here bears special mention. There is a vastness
to the oceans that “71% of Earth’s surface” does not give justice to. Only 0.4% of
water on Earth is both fresh and accessible, and that’s been enough for humanity’s
entire existence until now. With that in mind, we would have to increase our
water consumption thousands of times for desalination to even measurably
impact sea levels – especially since the water cycle would eventually return all

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desalinated water to the ocean. And even if we did somehow lower sea levels, it
would be to our benefit anyway, as sea levels are rising due to climate change.343

Valid questions exist as to the environmental impact of MSFD, both on local

ecosystems and on the ocean as a whole.

Conceptually, MSFD doesn’t do anything to the environment except place a pipe

in the ocean and suck in seawater. Rather than one large pipe that might risk
capturing marine life, a smaller series of filtered pipes designed to reduce
ecological impact can be used.

As these intake systems can operate twenty-four hours a day, a large volume of
water can be secured through a slow yet steady flow – meaning it does not need
to be strong enough to measurably interfere with the local ecosystem. The greatest
environmental impact of MSFD plants today usually involves the dumping of
waste brine back into the ocean with chemicals344 – steps that need not be taken
with modern facilities for two primary reasons:

1. Chemical pretreatment of seawater is not as necessary in modern MSFD

plants. Older models have sometimes introduced chemicals to “soften up”
water, making it less corrosive and easier to heat, but modern polymers can
resist corrosion345 and Universal Energy provides ample inexpensive heat
energy as a byproduct of power generation.

2. Currently, some MSFD facilities pump waste brine back into the ocean, which
raises local salinity levels and can cause environmental damage. With
Universal Energy, we have plenty of excess energy to boil off waste brine and
leave only salt as a byproduct.

That latter point presents an important question, though: if we were to desalinate

seawater on a large scale, how do we deal with all the leftover salt? The answer?
Simply sell it.

Let's say our implementation of Universal Energy desalinated a total of 500 billion
gallons of water annually. Each gallon of seawater contains roughly 4.5 ounces of
salt.346 Therefore, 500 billion gallons of seawater would contain 2.25 trillion ounces
of salt, or 140.63 billion pounds. That's a lot of salt – but our national salt
consumption is equally high.

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According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the United States consumed 69,500
thousand metric tons of salt in 2015 for all purposes.347 At 69.5 million metric tons,
that translates to 153.2 billion pounds of salt. This means a 500-billion-gallon
annual desalination effort would yield around 91% of our annual salt
consumption. At an estimated price of $40-$50 per long tonne (2,204lbs) 140.63
billion pounds would yield roughly $2.5 billion in profits from annual salt sales
(assuming $40 per tonne).348

With these concerns addressed, MSFD technologies can be harnessed to produce

unlimited amounts of fresh water for any use, with negligible fiscal and
environmental costs. This would effectively end water scarcity as a concept. And
we can then do the same for fuel.

Hydrogen Fuel

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe.349 It’s light, clean, and
highly combustible, with an energy-per-mass ratio greater than any known fossil
energy source.350 This makes it a flexible alternative to petroleum if we go about
sourcing and storing it in the right way.

Hydrogen production is currently a $100+ billion industry,351 yet most current

methods of hydrogen production involve extracting the element from oil or coal
through high-temperature steam reformation352 – a process that is both
environmentally destructive and will likely prove untenable once fossil
fuels eventually become more scarce.353 In a world with effectively unlimited
cheap energy, electrolysis becomes a significantly more attractive method.

Electrolysis is a process that introduces an electrolyte and an electric current

strong enough to break molecular bonds of water, chemically separating it into
oxygen and hydrogen gas. Like Multi-Stage Flash Distillation, it’s not a new
concept. Electrolysis has been in use since the 1700s to extract various substances,
hydrogen among them.354 Nor is it particularly complex; you could set up a simple
facility in your garage, if you wanted to (just don’t smoke).

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But to produce enough hydrogen for

use as a viable fuel on a nationwide
or global scale, an industrial setting
would be necessary. Commercial
hydrogen extraction through
electrolysis has traditionally proven
expensive,355 but Universal Energy
mitigates this cost factor as a
byproduct of generating heat energy
from thorium, making the
production of hydrogen through
electrolysis perfectly viable. Once
extracted from water, hydrogen can be harnessed to power an array of systems
and processes, to be discussed throughout the rest of this writing.

But even so, challenges to using hydrogen remain as production is only one half
of the equation. The other is how to contain, transport and stabilize it –
considerations of no small significance. Because hydrogen is highly reactive, it is
easily contaminated as it naturally bonds to other substances.356 And due to its
volatility, it has usually required storage in containment tanks at high pressures.
While metal tanks work in a laboratory or industrial setting, the weight of these
tanks and the safety risks presented by the explosive nature of compressed
hydrogen have made this approach questionable for civilian use. Thankfully,
recent advancements have given us new alternatives, such as:

Graphene storage: Storing and transporting hydrogen in compressed form

requires immense pressure, on the order of 482–690 bar (7,000-10,000 PSI).357
Currently, this is only possible through metal tanks that have limited utility due
to increased bulk and weight. Through Universal Energy, we’ll have better
materials.

Although we’ll be reviewing materials further in Chapter Ten, one of the most
noteworthy in the context of hydrogen is graphene,358 which serves several
important roles in the Universal Energy framework. Conceptually, graphene is a
one-atom-thick sheet of carbon that is structured in a way that is both ultra-strong
and ultra-conductive.359 This allows graphene to both function as an efficient
battery360 and also a structural material – one that is 200 times stronger and six
times lighter than steel.361 As it can be made paper-thin while remaining flexible,
graphene is well-suited to make storage tanks for hydrogen in vehicles and other

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machinery. Just as importantly, these storage mediums can be amorphously

shaped, providing greater flexibility in how they integrate with a fuel supply.362

Synthetic oil: Universal Energy’s approach to solving resource scarcity is based

in large part on replacing oil as a fuel source, due both to its finite supply as a
fossilized product and its contributions to climate change. But oil has other
important uses: it’s essential for making plastics and synthetic materials, and it's
a critical ingredient for chemical engineering.363 Oil is type of chemical known as
a hydrocarbon, and hydrocarbons are useful for both organic chemistry and fuel
for combustion. Oil is the abundant hydrocarbon of our time, so it’s what we use.
But that doesn’t have to be the case, especially as oil eventually becomes scarce
and thus expensive in the future.364

With an abundant supply of hydrogen, we can use it to manufacture synthetic

hydrocarbons for lubricants and chemical stabilizers365 as well as specialized fuels
for sophisticated applications like aircraft and rockets.

We can also use synthetic hydrocarbons for long-term hydrogen storage. Once
processed into a solution that stays liquid at normal pressure, we can store an
effectively unlimited amount of hydrogen in tanks that don’t require compression
and would work similarly to how we transport liquid fuels today. And unlike the
environmental damage caused by crude oil drilling, refining and transport,
synthetic oil can be processed at facilities that remove ecologically hazardous
steps from the manufacturing chain. This becomes all the more important when
using hydrogen as a medium to create fuel from atmospheric carbon capture.
(We’ll go over those details next chapter).

Fuel Cells: A hydrogen fuel cell is a means of generating electricity from a

chemical fuel, in this case, hydrogen. In practice, this allows fuel cells to function
as emission-free batteries. Fuel cell technology has been around since the 1950s
and has steadily grown since then into a billion-dollar market,366 with several
proven designs powering myriad industrial applications.

In a dynamic with reduced energy costs and improved manufacturing processes,

fuel cells become less expensive, easier to build and easier to expand into varied
sectors of our economy.

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Image source.367

Although hydrogen fuel cells are often looked to as a replacement for oil, they
also have potential to power remote areas that are environmentally hostile to
power generation. There are several circumstances where it’s not feasible to rely
on local power systems and where solar isn't possible (war/disaster zones, remote
research facilities, long-voyage ships, space travel, etc.), yet fuel cells can provide
energy as long as a supply of hydrogen exists. Future advances in graphene
battery technology can also complement this possibility, allowing for robust
energy storage even when far away from civilization’s amenities.

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Adding Things Together

With municipally integrated renewables doing their part to power cities and
reduce the energy demand they place on regional electric grids, employing the
baseload electricity generation and excess heat energy of LFTRs to both desalinate
seawater and extract hydrogen becomes a routine deliverable of the framework.
Yet that merely reflects only the products of this approach – its underlying
strategic value is itself a step further. As we’ve discussed previously, a key
component of Universal Energy is the intention to deploy energy technologies
strategically so that they can work together as a team to become greater than the
sum of their parts in operation.

The next stage of this goal comes through conceptual “CHP Plants” – (Combined
Heat and Power) – which are modular arrays of the technologies thus-far
discussed that can be installed rapidly in varied configurations for specific
applications. As we’ll see later in this writing, these applications might include
atmospheric scrubbing of greenhouse gasses, waste processing and recycling,
large-scale ocean cleanup or supplemental energy and resource production. Yet
they each would deliver their intended goals as a system that’s standardized and
cogenerative in design, enabling turnkey deployment of energy generation and
resource production to solve most any problem caused by the absence of either.

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The strength of a structure does not stem from a single beam or fastener – it stems from
the sum of its components in perpetual reinforcement.

This mindset is the basis for everything lasting that humans have ever built.

In turn, it will be the mindset for everything lasting that we will ever build.

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Chapter Six: Cogeneration

Universal Energy's technologies generate a lot of energy, but the driving mindset
behind their deployment is their ability to cooperate by design. This concept – the
idea of diverting the waste energy of one technology to help power the functions
of another – is commonly referred to as “cogeneration,” or “Combined Heat and
Power” (CHP). But it hasn't really been a central component of past power plant
design, and has only recently started to gain prominence.368 In general, our current
power infrastructure just “there,” decentralized, ad-hoc systems that are each
custom-designed and built to order. They rarely work together.369 They barely talk
to each other.370 They are built with non-standardized components and powered
by non-standardized fuels.371 Just as importantly: the energy they generate is
usually devoted only to powering electric generators, any excess is written off as
“waste” instead of used for auxiliary or offsite functions.

This is a squandered opportunity on a monumental scale.

Most power plants today have an efficiency of around 33%.372 This means 67% of
their generated energy is discarded in the form of heat that either dissipates into
the surrounding air or is absorbed into the ground. That’s more than twice the
energy used to generate electricity in the first place. If we’re going to build an
advanced and clean energy future, we must improve the efficiency and utility of
our power infrastructure over the long-term.

The problem? Entropy and thermal loss are unavoidable byproducts of energy
transfer – which means we’re probably never going to be able to build power
plants that operate at superb levels of efficiency. But we can harness waste energy
to power auxiliary functions at low additional cost. This is something Universal
Energy seeks to employ at the design stage so that every aspect of power-
generation is engineered to maximize cogeneration from the ground-up. And not
just within a given facility, either, but also externally to other facilities that could
be modularly integrated within an indefinitely scalable standard.

This writing commonly refers to these facilities as “CHP Plants”

(Combined/Cogenerative Heat and Power), but their defining characteristic is
simply a deployment of energy technologies designed to maximize efficiency and
operational capability by leveraging waste energy for other useful applications.

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While this design is significantly more aggressive than even our most ambitious
approaches to energy efficiency, it is not inventive in and of itself, and has several
proven demonstrations of its concepts within both power generation and
manufacturing.373 One notable example is the National Renewable Energy
Laboratory’s REopt™ model (Renewable Energy Integration & Optimization),
which is designed to identify renewable and/or energy efficiency opportunities
within power infrastructure. One of their flagship projects in Arizona (home to
the nation’s largest nuclear reactor)374 involved the integration of light-water
nuclear with renewables to efficiently desalinate seawater into hydrogen.375

Source: NREL. A desalination nuclear-renewable hybrid energy system uses electricity from a
nuclear reactor and solar photovoltaics. Illustration from Mark Ruth, NREL

Another example is China’s TSMR project in Gansu province that we reviewed in

Chapter Four.376 Their cogenerative deployment leveraged up to 100 megawatts
of clean energy to power resource-producing systems within fresh water,
hydrogen fuel and chemical hydrocarbons.377 / 378

379

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Russia’s thorium project conducted by their School of Nuclear Science &

Engineering of Tomsk Polytechnic University further leverages cogeneration to
desalinate seawater into fresh water and hydrogen fuel.380 Cogeneration has also
been leveraged on varied scales with other energy technologies381 and has been
committed into official policies of the European Union382 and the UK383 that
generally require its inclusion to participate in energy tax incentives.384 The
underlying benefit of cogeneration, therefore, is both proven and by itself isn’t
especially novel as applies to energy generation.

But cogeneration today – even if applied to strong effect – still reflects the same
foundational shortcomings of our current energy schema. Each effort looks for
practical – yet piecemeal – improvements within unique, ad-hoc systems that are designed
and implemented as such. Even if NREL’s REopt engineers retain the best tools and
brightest minds in the world, everything they do for one application in one area
will have to be completely re-done from scratch in another because the nature,
capabilities, and limitations of the technology deployment hinge on energy
systems that are essentially made to order.

By leveraging today’s manufacturing capabilities to mass-produce identical

power-generating systems that are modular and standardized, Universal Energy
seeks to promote an energy mindset that’s cogenerative-first. This means energy
technologies are designed first – from blueprint to integration – to work
cooperatively with others on a modular standard. That, then, makes the framework
indefinitely scalable because identical power modules can be extended,
integrated and/or swapped on-demand.

This helps change the fundamentals of the energy question from “how can we
identify individual efficiency improvements within unique power-generating
systems” to questions both more practical and expansive in vision.

For example, let’s say we were to ponder the following tasks:

1. What would be required to build a power facility in mid-coastal California

that generates 300 megawatts of electricity, desalinates 40 million gallons
of seawater and produces two metric tons of hydrogen per day?

2. With that known, how easily could we upgrade that facility’s desalination
capacity to 60 million gallons, add on another ½ ton of hydrogen
production and 100 megawatts more electricity?

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3. In case the upgrades in task #2 exceed an allocated budget, what

deliverables would respectively meet 35% and 75% of this target?

4. How much land would this require at what size of building envelope and
what terrain limitations would apply?

5. All aspects considered, what’s the overnight cost of these deployments

with a high degree of certainty – plus or minus no more than 5% - all
regulatory and permitting aspects considered?

In a world where energy systems are unique and made to order, the presence of
these very questions sustains the business models of global consulting
conglomerates. Their answers take months to derive and cost millions of dollars.

Yet in a world where capabilities of modular, mass-produced systems are known

clearly, and their deployments both integrate and scale with others by design,
answering these questions becomes far easier.

The unknowns are removed from the equation because each energy system is
model-identical in similar application to a D-cell battery – and can couple, swap
or decouple from others just like the very same. Everything from power
requirements, performance specifications to product lifetime and physical
footprint can be granulized in database tables that could be used to generate
dynamic reports with the click of a mouse.

While the engineering complexities of each system of course remain, they’re also
contained within the module. They do not permeate into the module’s capabilities
or connection interfaces. Nor do they need to. Few of us know how to design or
build a lightbulb, battery, USB hard drive or computer monitor, for instance.

We simply know how it’s supposed to work and how to replace it if it doesn’t.
And, if we want a second one, simply get a second one and plug it in. This is how
the world of technology works in nearly every commercial sector. A rare
exception is power-generation.

The time has come for that to change.

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As applicable to Universal Energy, we’ll take a brief overview of how the concept
of cogeneration would apply to CHP Plants.

Every technology within the framework deals with electricity, heat, and/or water.
When these technologies are deployed in close proximity to one another, they can
easily be tied together to harness waste energy.

The central technology behind CHP Plants are Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors
(LFTRs). As far as power plants go, LFTRs get hot – quite hot – (900 °C / 1,600
°F).385 As the reactor's heat exchangers are well-separated from anything
radioactive and its electric generator is driven by an inert helium loop, waste heat
can be harnessed as central energy source for secondary functions.

The first function is seawater desalination.

Normally, a Multi-Stage Flash Distillation (MSFD) facility counterflows waste hot

brine with cool seawater to preheat it for desalination, recycling energy in the
process. But by directly integrating seawater intake with the heat exchangers of
LFTRs beforehand, the seawater can be brought to a boil before it even reaches
the facility. This increases efficiency in both systems and translates to cost savings.
Further, it sterilizes any microbial life within the seawater – further preventing
concerns with the aquatic transfer of invasive species.

The second function is hydrogen production, as there is already an ample supply

of heat, electricity, freshwater and electrolyte (ocean salt) on site to extract
hydrogen into fuel or base supplies for synthetic materials.

The third function is to use excess energy for atmospheric scrubbing of

greenhouse gasses and air pollution, and as we’ll review later in Chapter Ten,
waste processing via plasma gasification.

This becomes especially important in contexts of addressing climate change,

because it is the most direct and effective tool we have available to physically
remove greenhouse emissions already present in our atmosphere – and perhaps
the most vital method available to reduce the circumstances fueling an inexorably
warming planet.386

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Sample CHP Plant Configuration. Note citation for link to larger version.387

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Atmospheric Scrubbing and Waste Processing

Climate change is a consequence of the concentration of greenhouse gases in our

atmosphere. When the sun’s energy hits Earth, a portion of that energy is
absorbed into the ground. Greenhouse gases, like carbon and methane, block
more heat from radiating into space than nitrogen, which is the primary gas in
earth’s atmosphere.390 In function, this works much like a bedding blanket: the
thicker the blanket, the more heat that blanket retains. The more heat it retains,
the warmer you become – and this is happening on a planetary scale.391 This
problem adversely affects weather and long-term polar ice melt, but also
exacerbates droughts, wildfires, smog and air pollution – saying nothing of mass
human migration. Alongside resource scarcity, climate change ranks among the
most serious problems of our time, with potentially catastrophic consequences for
our civilization should it remain unaddressed.392

Worse, solutions to this problem that involve scaling back fossil fuels have proven
politically precarious,393 as the oil and gas industry is a major driver of the global
economy and many entrenched power players owe their wealth to its lucrative
returns. Even if this wasn’t the case, the greenhouse gas emissions from
manufacturing, agriculture and global commerce would still persist even if our
fuel supply chain was carbon neutral.394

Getting ahead of the impacts of climate change are laudable efforts. But they, in
all truth, needed to begin decades ago when the first warnings were sounded (and
unfortunately ignored).395 Humanity has already passed an initial carbon tipping
point of 400 parts-per-million396 and global fossil fuel usage and consumption is
accelerating397 – as is our population – meaning that even though we recognize the
problem of climate change, it’s getting continually worse even as we attempt to
slow it down.

Switching to a clean, carbon-neutral energy framework like Universal Energy is

an essential part of any strategy to avoid the calamitous results of climate change.
But even if it was implemented as proposed it wouldn’t by itself clean the
atmosphere of the greenhouse gasses already present. It can, however, power
unique systems designed to accomplish this very task.

An atmospheric scrubber is a machine that strips greenhouse gases from the

atmosphere, either by a chemical or mechanical method.398 A primary example is
Direct Air Capture, which blows air through towers containing a solution that

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reacts with certain compounds, removing them to form a substance that can be
further processed into materials – including fuel.399

A Vancouver, Canada-based company named “Carbon Engineering” has

patented several Direct Air Capture methods to isolate carbon from air through
modular fan assemblies that work in unison with each other.400 Their current
pricing models assess a rate of $100 per-ton of CO2 captured under combined-
cycle natural gas, which costs significantly more at present than Universal
Energy’s target of 2 cents per kilowatt-hour.

Image source: Carbon Engineering.

As with other Direct Air Capture technologies, water and fuel are produced as
deliverables alongside renewable electricity through cogenerative functions.

Image source: Carbon Engineering.

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Another noteworthy component of this system is use of a chemical cycle that both
uses non-toxic materials and is functionally closed-loop,401 meaning that the
chemicals (and thermal energy) used for Direct Air Capture is continually re-used
and does not require frequent refueling over time. This makes the method both
environmentally friendly and indefinitely scalable.

Image source: Carbon Engineering.

Several other ventures have come to market with similar technologies. Iceland’s
Climeworks’ models, for example, are both modular and scalable with their
largest units being capable of capturing nearly 5,000 kilograms of carbon per-
day.402 In addition to standard carbon capture, they also are able to condense
captured carbon into usable fuels403 or solid carbon for use in materials.404

Image source: Climeworks Incorporated.

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Image source: Climeworks Incorporated.

Other companies, including Silicon Kingdom Holdings in the United Kingdom

and Alabama-based Global Thermostat have obtained patents for similar models
that perform similar functions in abstract.405

The costs of these systems stand to fall significantly over time through continued
investment and research, and their operational costs stand to fall even further if
implemented within a modular energy framework. And while cost reductions are
realized maximally if integrated within CHP Plants, that shouldn’t overshadow
other highly significant benefits that occur as well.

Image source: Carbon Engineering.

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Because captured carbon is stored on-site, along with molecular hydrogen from
electrolysis facilities, there is ample source material to make unique hydrocarbons
with low-carbon emissions.406 This means that not only are we able to produce
hydrogen fuel through CHP Plants, we’re also able to further produce specialized
hydrocarbons that have applications within chemical engineering, fuels for motor
vehicles, heavy machinery, commercial aviation and aerospace.

Further, as any emissions from these applications (especially commercial

aviation407) can be captured by these facilities and re-converted into usable fuel,
we’re able to leverage the combined benefits of CHP Plants to not only help clean
our atmosphere but present yet another avenue for sustainable fuel production.

Due to the modular nature of this approach, CHP Plants can be deployed both
rapidly and at scale – also in a way that is location-agnostic. Building hundreds
or thousands of them worldwide is limited only by vision and capital.
Considering that their overnight cost is not prohibitively expensive408 in the
context of nationwide power409 (or avoiding the consequences of resource scarcity
and climate change), it’s an ideal approach that can cascade in effect to present
immense social benefits practically anywhere on the planet.

In an ideal scenario, prefabricated facilities could be delivered turn-key, initiated

in a matter of weeks for instant energy and resource production. With an
effectively unlimited source of clean energy, problems of nearly any scale – even
planetary – become solvable. And the more modular and adaptable these sources
of energy become, the quicker they can arrive to deliver solutions that mitigate
the impact of energy, climate or resource-driven social problems.

Symbiotic, cogenerative energy deployments are our next stage in the evolution
of power generation not just because they solve several problems at once. They
also address physical and economic challenges presented by our current ad-hoc
approach to power generation:

1. Constructing a single facility that can generate multiple types of energy and
resources at one location is significantly less expensive than if these facilities
were located far from each other.

2. Consolidating multiple functions into a single facility avoids expenses of

transmission and transportation, increasing overall efficiency.

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3. Symbiotic design helps establish ideal standards for implementation and

operation. This reduces costs and helps encourage greater adoption of the
Universal Energy framework.

4. The fresh water produced from CHP Plants can come out hot – which will
become important as we look at the concept of the National Aqueduct within
the next few chapters.

What we can have with such symbiotic deployments of advanced energy

technologies – what we can have today – is something that we have never before
had in our history: the ability to synthetically, sustainably, and inexpensively
produce as much electricity, water and fuel as we could ever need. All this while
de-polluting our environment and combating climate change as a dedicated
effort. And once we have these functions in hand, we can look beyond them, using
any excess waste energy to produce resources to even greater extents.

While we began with electricity, water, and fuel out of necessity, we can extend
the framework further in the fields of agriculture, chemical engineering, recycling
processes and next-generation building materials. The next step towards that
future comes from the National Aqueduct – a vital function of Universal Energy
that ties each of its core technologies together into a nationwide network of energy
and resource abundance.

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Water, the hub of life. Water is its mater and matrix, mother and medium. Water is the
most extraordinary substance. Practically all its properties are anomalous, which
enabled life to use it as building material for its machinery. Life is water dancing to the
tune of solids.

- Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

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Chapter Seven: The National

Aqueduct
So far, the Universal Energy framework enables production of three out of five
critical resources: electricity, water and fuel. But while electricity and fuel can be
transported relatively easily, water is a different story. We might be able to
leverage Multi-Stage Flash Distillation technology to produce a lot of water at the
coasts, but how do we get it inland?

Universal Energy’s proposed answer to that question is the National Aqueduct, a

system that arguably functions as the heart of the framework. In concept, it’s a
nationwide array of modular, above-ground pipelines and storage facilities
intended to transport billions of gallons of water to any location in the country.
In function, it serves four critical roles:

1. Completely solve drought and water scarcity anywhere the network

serves.

2. Operate as a fourth energy source alongside renewable-integrated cities,

LFTRs and CHP Plants.

3. Serve as a gigantic nationwide battery for renewable energy.

4. Provide endless, sustainable irrigation for agriculture and synthetic

material production.

Thanks to three things we’ve been perfecting for the past 50 years: oil pipelines,
high-voltage power lines and interstate highway networks, not only do we have
the free space and wherewithal to build this system, we’ve already built it for
other substances – at higher stakes and with higher difficulties. To elaborate,
consider a series of three images. First, if you recall from Chapter Two, we see
that our nation has a highway system connecting nearly every area of our country:

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Second, consider a map of nationwide power transmission lines:

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Third, consider a map of nationwide fossil fuel pipelines and refinery networks:

From these maps, we can derive two important conclusions:

1. Highways and high voltage power lines give us plenty of free space to run
water pipelines. Our road networks provide ample open space to install solar
panels while removing the requirement to buy land, as this land is generally
owned by public services that have exclusive authority to build on them.

Roads and highways also have clearance at each side and tend to be flat and
straight – a trait usually shared by high voltage power line networks. This
gives us thousands of miles of open, unused space to build a National
Aqueduct. As this space has been cleared of potential obstructions
beforehand, construction in these locations has far fewer obstacles than
commercial land parcels.

Additionally, their close proximity to power systems (either integrated

renewables, LFTRs or CHP Plants) gives the National Aqueduct plenty of
energy to power sensors, pump stations, purification mechanisms and
heating elements to help keep water hot. This hot water functionally acts as a
“battery” – further discussed in the next chapter – and the potential energy
stored within it can be harnessed alongside pipeline-mounted solar panels
and turbines to generate immense electricity.

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2. Running water pipelines is feasible. We know that the National Aqueduct

will work as described because we’ve already built a similar network of
pipelines for fossil fuels today. Our nation has thousands of miles of oil
pipelines that already work in the same way as water pipelines would in this
context, and oil pipes are necessarily built to a higher environmental standard
than we would need with water.

Water pipelines can come factory prefabricated and be designed for rapid,
modular construction. Environmental risks are reduced, as the only substance
a leaking water pipeline would spill is fresh water. In tandem, modular
deployment and lower environmental risk would allow us to build a water
pipeline network at a lower overall cost than with oil pipelines. We can also
use the lessons we’ve learned with oil pipelines to get a head start, as the
expertise needed to plan and build such a pipeline network already exists.

Much of the work involved with developing a National Aqueduct has already
been done for us in terms of research and development, engineering, and methods
of implementation. But to have the National Aqueduct accomplish its intended
goals and meet our needs in full, we’ll need to establish a few requirements for
the system:

Efficiency, reliability and affordability: Humanity has a fresh water

requirement of trillions of gallons a year. While Universal Energy is capable of
producing that much water in abstract, delivering it with any effectiveness must
be efficient and inexpensive. A water delivery system must also be reliable, as any
given industry or city can’t depend on an external water source if its reliability is
questionable.

Scale of delivery: Whatever system we use to transport fresh water must work
over thousands of miles, as water must be delivered from the coasts to areas deep
inland. And as the land we have to work with isn’t flat with consistently warm
weather, this system must also be deployable over varied terrain and climates –
especially cold climates.

Control of operation: A water delivery system must be locally controlled, as a

centralized control structure would be incapable of efficiently managing the
water requirements of every agricultural and population center throughout the
country. There must also be redundancy in the system – for example, allowing a
city in the central United States to receive water from multiple routes in case one

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becomes incapacitated by some unforeseen event, such as a tornado or

earthquake. This calls for a “smart” system approach that would have the ability
to both monitor and manage how water is distributed from the point of
desalination to the final point of consumption – both locally, regionally and
nationwide.

Modular construction and ease of maintenance: Modularity is essential to ideal

system design, providing benefits and cost savings in terms of construction time,
standardization, reliability and maintenance. Any system to transport water
would have to meet these standards by allowing its components to be installed
and/or replaced rapidly by design.

To meet all of these requirements, the National Aqueduct would be made of a

“smart grid” of above-ground pipelines, storage tanks, and pump stations that
would transport desalinated fresh water from the coast to any area inland. These
pipelines would feature interior turbines and exterior solar panels that would
generate electricity, a portion of which would then be used to keep the water
supply hot to thermoelectrically generate power at night. If built, the National
Aqueduct would enable us to provide for our national fresh water needs without
having to rely on local water sources ever again.

That statement is worth repeating: The National Aqueduct, in conjunction with

CHP Plants, would allow us to have unlimited fresh water. And that water would
never need to come from the ground, a lake, or a river, unless we wanted it to.
This would give natural water sources time to replenish, decreasing much if not
all of the drought impact we’ve been experiencing as of late and benefiting the
environment as a whole.

The National Aqueduct’s system consists of four primary components:

production, transmission, storage and control:

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Production

Production is comprised of Multi-Stage Flash Distillation (MSDF) facilities,

ideally as part of CHP Plants, as described last chapter. To summarize, these
facilities would use the waste energy from LFTRs to power saltwater desalination
on our coasts, which apart from the water devoted to producing hydrogen would
effectively give us an endless supply of fresh water.

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Transmission

The transmission component consists of a series of water pipelines and pumping

stations. Instead of building single water pipes as unique entities, the National
Aqueduct would instead use factory-prefabricated pipe assemblies that are built
to one standard and are designed to couple together modularly. The mindset
behind this approach is two-fold: first, it would simplify construction of pipelines
over long distances, and second, it provides the ability to rapidly expand
transmission capacity with minimal overhead and construction costs, should the
need arise.

The pipes themselves would be insulated against environmental elements and

could drain or block flow on demand. They could additionally contain a series of
sensors that relay relevant data to the system’s control component (described
shortly). As mentioned, these pipelines would also feature external solar panels
and internal turbines, which we’ll describe in detail next chapter.

The sensors within the pipeline could serve multiple purposes: they might detect
contaminants, determine water quality, or send alerts if they were compromised
or modified without authorization. Since each separate pipe within each pipeline
could have its own sensors that connect independently to a control network,
water quality could be monitored instantly on both local and national levels.

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As sensor technology has reached levels of sophistication where sensitivity in

parts per billion (PPB) is common, the returned data would be useful for water
management. This, among other conclusions from sensor data, could influence a
range of actions from the control center of this system, ensuring maximum
performance, reliability, and security.

Storage

The storage component of the National Aqueduct includes arrays of containment

tanks that act as the supply reservoir for a region. Rather than transport water
directly from production to areas of consumption (as we largely do with
electricity) this system would instead use storage tanks as a staging system. Water
from the storage tanks would go directly to cities or other areas of need, and the
tanks would be replenished from production facilities as necessary.

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These arrays of storage tanks would contain millions of gallons of water and
could be installed as distribution centers throughout the country. Each
agricultural and population center would be served redundantly, with each
storage center servicing multiple regions. The storage component would
additionally provide several important functions:

Staging: it’s difficult to guess how much water a region might use with certainty,
as external factors such as weather, time of year, and state of economy all impact
how much water is consumed. Maintaining supply and pressure over thousands
of miles under inconsistent demand would be a logistical nightmare, which rules
out any system that delivers water directly.

However, when used as a part of a staging system water storage tanks can contain
enough water to supply a region for a certain time period – say a week – which
equips them to handle unexpected spikes in demand. In turn, water would be
supplied from production facilities to maintain consistent levels.

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This pays homage to the concept of constant resupply, which bears special
mention in this context. The National Aqueduct would be constantly producing
and pumping water. This consistent operation is key to meeting our immense
water requirements.

For example: a common bathtub faucet has a flow rate of roughly 120
gallons/hour.410 If that faucet was to never turn off, it would provide 2,880 gallons
a day, 86,400 gallons a month and 1.036 million gallons a year – just from your
bathtub faucet.

With a water velocity of just 15 miles an hour, a 12” pipe can have a flow rate of
150 gallons per second.411 That translates to 540,000 gallons an hour, 12.96 million
gallons a day, 363 million gallons a month and 3.35 billion gallons a year. And
that’s just from one 12” pipe. Imagine what an array of nine pipes could do, and
imagine that pipeline array multiplied by hundreds. A constantly running
pipeline network could easily transport hundreds of billions of gallons.

Overflow / active water management. Nodding to the fact that water demand is
inconsistent in most areas of the country, there will be times where one region has

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more water than it needs or needs more water than it has. This requires the system
to feature an overflow component.

By design, water storage tanks would only be filled to 70-80% of capacity, which
would give them the ability to accept more water from other regions if supply
exceeds demand. On the other hand, should a region consume more water than
anticipated, overflow in one region can be diverted to another as necessary. With
this attention to storage and re-routing, the National Aqueduct can maintain
consistent uptime and high degrees of reliability.

Ultraviolet sterilization and filtration. Storing water for weeks on end can lead
to circumstances where microbial agents could conceivably cause contamination.
Further, there is always the concern of invasive species through any sort of
aquatic transfer (think Zebra mussels).412 In addition to standard filtration
mechanisms and high temperature of water, the Aqueduct’s storage and
transmission component would have a series of UV lights to further sterilize
stored water. Ultraviolet light, especially at high intensity, is lethal to any
microbial lifeform (bacterial or viral) with high reliability, allowing for long-term
water storage without fears of stagnation or outside contamination.

Control

The control component is the brain and central nervous system of the National
Aqueduct, yet also works as a decentralized framework allowing any region to
control the flow of water in its jurisdiction. This would be accomplished through
a series of manned control centers at national, regional, state and local levels,
similar to the current management functions of large public utilities.

In this case, the control component would monitor the system to ensure
consistency and stability, and further act if it detected a contaminant, outside
tampering, or mechanical failure.

In the event of a shortage or an overabundance of water in an area, water could

be routed from one storage array to another as necessary; in the event of a
problem, the control component could direct the “smart grid” of transmission
pipelines and pumping stations to take action. These actions might range from
disabling, draining, and isolating a certain section of pipes from transmission
lines, to bypassing a whole sector or storage array completely.

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The sensor network within the National Aqueduct could further provide data to
create models that would be greatly beneficial toward ideal operation, and which
could, for example, predict demand over time. A defining feature of the National
Aqueduct is that once enough water has been produced, the production
component only needs to resupply what has been consumed, allowing
desalination facilities to produce fresh water only as needed. Accurate modeling
allows water to be resupplied intelligently – knowing when water will be used at
what levels based on time of year allows us to address anticipated shortages
before they occur.

------------------

The National Aqueduct is Universal Energy’s means to deliver water anywhere

in the country, allowing us to live free of the destructive results of unsustainable
water use and natural drought cycles. From here, the secondary component of the
National Aqueduct comes into play – in addition to supplying the nation with
water, it can store electricity generated by renewables on a massive scale, making
it the “world’s largest battery.” Next chapter, we’ll explore why.

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A ten-times increase in the weight-oriented density of batteries would enable so many

other moonshots, and we will start that moonshot if we can find a great idea.

- Astro Teller

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Chapter Eight: The World’s

Largest Battery
The National Aqueduct is designed to transport an effectively unlimited volume
of desalinated water from the coasts to anywhere inland. Powered by Universal
Energy, it can deliver on that promise. But like many of the systems included
within the framework, the National Aqueduct is not a one-trick pony. It has
additional functions to generate electricity and serve as a battery for renewable
energy on a massive scale.

To consider a nationwide array of water pipelines a “battery” of any sort may

seem strange – especially since “batteries” technically require a chemical reaction
to facilitate an electric charge. But the National Aqueduct would have the same
effect as a battery in function – far beyond that of the Bath County Pumped
Storage Station in Northwest Virginia, a similar concept of pumped-storage
hydroelectric power that remains the largest of its kind in the world (currently).413

By taking advantage of three aspects of the water transmission system – surface

area for solar power, water flow for hydroelectric power, and water heat for
thermoelectric power – we have a platform on which to build potent external
electricity generation and storage systems.

Best of all, as with CHP Plants, these systems can work together in a cogenerative
capacity, presenting additional benefits.

To explain how, we’ll go through each of these three aspects.

Surface area for solar panels. Universal Energy intends to deploy National
Aqueduct pipelines at the side of highways or under currently existing long-
distance power lines. That’s because this land is usually state-owned and doesn’t
need to be purchased, and also because it’s pre-cleared of obstructions. If you
recall from last chapter, water pipelines are designed to be installed in
prefabricated arrays, which boast relatively flat surfaces. So, what if we were to
cover their surface area with solar panels? The result, in the following image, is
the final intended form of National Aqueduct pipeline arrays:

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Across the thousands of miles such pipeline arrays would span, integrating them
with solar panels stands to generate extremely high levels of electricity – far
beyond any single power plant.414 Alongside solar road networks and other
municipally integrated renewables, they can also help reinforce a redundant,
smart electric grid.

To see how, let's assume solar-enabled water transmission pipelines had a surface
width of 10 feet. Multiplied by a mile, that's 52,800 square feet. Going back to our
estimate of 30 kilowatt-hours annually generated per square foot, a one mile
stretch of solar-integrated pipelines would generate 1.58 million kilowatt-hours
per year – enough to power 150 homes. Keeping in mind that there are four
million miles of road surfaces in the United States,415 even fractional integration
would be sufficient to power tens of millions of homes. Total integration,
hypothetically, would annually generate 6.32 trillion kilowatt hours – nearly
twice our annual national energy consumption. And that’s just from one of three
power sources of the National Aqueduct.

Integration with wind turbines. Across the wide, open expanses of rural
America, wind power is especially effective. Placement in close proximity with
the National Aqueduct would enable a uniquely convenient source of
transmission and storage for the electricity they generate, that like other
municipal placement, avoids the need to buy expensive land.

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Wind can assist the National Aqueduct in both electricity transmission and
thermoelectric battery functions. During peak demand, wind turbines integrated
throughout the National Aqueduct could directly power regional areas, as the
Aqueduct itself would effectively be a nationwide electric grid that could transmit
electricity at high efficiencies. Conversely, the energy they generate could be
diverted to water heating elements that keep the Aqueduct’s battery function at
maximum capacity. As the Aqueduct is a “smart” system that operates within a
modular, responsive framework, it would be able to respond to these needs
intelligently, making wind integration yet another force multiplier to the National
Aqueduct’s already multifaceted capabilities.

Internal hydroelectric power. As a part of the energy-generating capabilities of

the National Aqueduct, the water pipes themselves could be fitted with internal
turbines to generate electricity from the water flow. Hydroelectricity is highly
effective as a power source, and by miniaturizing turbines within prefabricated
pipeline arrays, nearly every aspect of the water transmission process can be
harnessed as power.

A company named Lucid Energy in Oregon is already doing this today through
modular turbine assemblies installed within prefabricated water pipes.416

Image source: Lucid Energy

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Overview of Lucid Energy Water Turbine:

Image source: Lucid Energy

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Using a similar approach, the National Aqueduct would generate electricity 24

hours a day, 7 days a week by virtue of its primary function: transporting water
over thousands of miles. Yet unlike other hydroelectric power stations, like the
Hoover Dam on the rapidly-depleting Lake Meade,417 this method is
environmentally friendly and highly reliable.

Hydrothermal power. As water has one of the highest specific heats in nature,
once it gets hot, it stays hot for a long time.418 At the scale of billions of gallons,
water stays hot for an extremely long time – days, even weeks – all the more so if
the storage mediums are well-insulated.

One of the key functions of a CHP Plant is to keep water hot when it comes from
a Multistage Flash Distillation Facility, and in turn pump it into the National
Aqueduct hot. But as it travels over distance, the water will eventually cool.

To address this problem, we’ll need to rely on the National Aqueduct’s energy-
generating features. By using the excess energy generated by pipeline-mounted
solar arrays, wind turbines, and internal pipe turbines, we’ll have the energy
necessary to keep water hot throughout the entire Aqueduct. This is beneficial for
three important reasons:

First, water will reach its destination hot, sparing the energy needed to heat it
within residential and commercial hot water heaters. By virtue of the Aqueduct’s
control component, not all water would necessarily be delivered to residences at
high temperature, but it can arrive hot at any given time. This gives municipal
managers more flexibility in how they route water, as well as save significant
sums of money and energy on heating costs.

Second, keeping the water hot prevents it from freezing in pipelines during
winter months. Although the pipes would be insulated and resilient, a residual
amount of heat could be constantly emitted to melt snow covering solar panels,
allowing for electricity generation year-round.

Third, if the entire Aqueduct were heated, it would store a tremendous amount
of potential energy that could be converted into electricity,419 allowing it to
functionally act as a battery – the world’s largest by far.

Several companies – such as Marlow Engineering’s models in the images on the

next page – make thermoelectric generators designed specifically to be placed

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over hot pipelines,420 which can be placed in arrays up to three-wide. If installed

throughout the entire system, they could generate immense power from such a
large volume of hot water.421

Image source: Marlow Engineering

Let’s say, for example, that we’ll store 500 billion gallons throughout the National
Aqueduct, and let’s say we heat that water to 200o F to maximize potential energy
storage. Using the worksheets provided by the helpful folks over at Engineering
Toolbox,422 we'll conclude that 1 gallon of water at 200 oF contains 1,660 BTU of
energy. Across 500 billion gallons, that comes to 830 trillion BTU, or 875.7 billion
megajoules.

Converted into electricity, that's equivalent to 243 billion kilowatt-hours of

potential energy from hot water alone.

Combined with the hydroelectric and solar functions of water pipeline arrays, it’s
feasible for the National Aqueduct to store enough potential energy to generate
trillions of kilowatt-hours over time. To put that in the proper scale, take another
look at the nationwide road map we saw earlier:

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If each one of these highway lines represented arrays of water transmission

pipelines with solar functionality, hydroelectric functionality, and hydrothermal
functionality, we’d be generating a level of energy that words don’t give justice
to – particularly when combined with Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors, CHP
Plants, and municipally integrated renewables. As adoption of Universal
Energy's technologies spreads, the multiplier effect accelerates until we're well
beyond the energy targets needed to support our way of life, with each step
beyond that concordantly reaching a subsequent tier.

With the National Aqueduct implemented alongside integrated municipal

renewables and CHP Plants, we have electricity, water, and fuel at our fingertips
in indefinite abundance. That, once achieved, empowers us to evolve beyond the
concepts of drought, water scarcity, and water-borne disease. And from there, we
can do the same to famine.

Because as we can use effectively unlimited electricity to produce unlimited water

and unlimited fuel, we can then use all three to produce unlimited food.

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Clean water is a great example of something that depends on energy. And if you solve
the water problem, you solve the food problem.

- Richard Smalley

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Chapter Nine: Everybody Eats

At its most basic form, life requires energy, water and food. Historically, we’ve
depended exclusively on nature to provide those first two resources so that we
could grow the third. With Universal Energy, this would no longer need to be the
case.

An effectively unlimited supply of electricity, water and fuel gives us

opportunities to revolutionize our industrial and agricultural systems, allowing
us to grow produce locally in indoor farms. This produce can be healthier and of
better quality than much of what we cultivate today – and more of it can be grown
at greater efficiencies with shorter delivery times (and reduced environmental
impact) on less land.423

These systems can be built close to areas where food is consumed, which reduces
obstacles to transportation and delivery, especially within cities. Indoor farms can
also be climate controlled and operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year –
dramatically increasing output and efficiency compared to traditional farming.
Past obstacles to their deployment stemmed primarily from material and resource
costs,424 problems that Universal Energy substantially reduces.

With indoor farms, as long as there is water, light and heat, the location and
outside environment doesn’t matter. This allows food to be grown anywhere on
the planet at any time of year, with increased yield, higher efficiency, longer
growing seasons, and greater food security.

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In this concept image of an indoor farming warehouse, water from storage tanks
is mixed with organic fertilizer made from excess plant matter grown within the
warehouse itself. This water is then pumped through the facility and dispersed
over plots of crops that grow under high-intensity lights. These crops can grow
on modular wheeled platforms that are easily moved, and the crops growing on
them can be manually pollinated as necessary.

What water isn’t absorbed by crops drains into a collection mechanism in the
floor, which sends the water to the bottom of the warehouse where it is filtered
and placed back into circulation. As we see today, the construction of large
warehouses at acceptable cost isn’t uncommon – take any Walmart, Target, Home
Depot or other big-box retailer, for example. These buildings are huge, often
encompassing a surface area into the hundreds of thousands of square feet.
Similar structures present promising opportunities for indoor farming.

If an indoor farming warehouse had dimensions of 600' per side, that comes to a
total surface area of 360,000 square feet (roughly 1/15th of the surface area of Tesla
Headquarters).425 Yet if the growing platforms were stacked, each subsequent
layer adds that same surface area to the aggregate total to become a force
multiplier. At five stacks, that warehouse now offers 1.8 million square feet of

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growing space. At ten stacks, 3.6 million. At twenty stacks, 7.2 million. Building
two dozen of such warehouses, at twenty stacks each, would boast a total growing
surface of 172.8 million square feet. That’s 3,967 acres - some 6.2 square miles.

As these warehouses would operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, their
aggregate output could grow large enough to provide food for large metropolitan
areas – the capabilities of which would be limited only by the number of indoor
farm clusters. This setup is becoming more common, and is in use throughout
many of the indoor farms that have sprung up around the world today.

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Combined, these systems create a cultivation mechanism that allows produce of

effectively any kind to be grown locally. And this produce would be grown under
controlled conditions – that is to say, each type of crop would be grown under
ideal conditions for that type of crop. To elaborate further, here are some of the
more remarkable benefits of indoor farming:

Total control of environment and constant operation. Since humans discovered

how to farm, we’ve been limited to a growing season as determined by the local
environment. Indoor farming completely bypasses this limitation, allowing us to
emulate any growing conditions we wish. Moreover, indoor farms can be
customized to the point where we’d have total control over the temperature,
humidity, light spectrum, and soil composition in any given section of
warehouse. And as indoor farms operate 24/7/365, they can reflect the ideal light
cycle for any plant grown. This would dramatically increase overall efficiency, as
there would be no seasonal slowdowns or environmental complications.

Technology-driven pest/contaminant prevention. Pests and weeds are problems

in any open environment – problems we’ve tried to solve with chemicals of
varying degrees of toxicity. As they offer total control of environmental setting,
indoor farms allow us to manage the presence of weeds and pests without
dependence on more toxic methods Examples include:

• Positive pressure. The indoor farm can be pressurized higher than the
outside area, so that when a door opens, indoor air blows out of the
building instead of outdoor air blowing in. Alongside worker sterilization
and air filtration mechanisms, this would limit the presence of
contaminants inside the farm.

• Isolated sections. In what would also benefit food security as a whole,

isolating areas of the indoor farm would hinder the ability of a pest or
contaminant to spread from one area to another. This would further assist
in any necessary cleanup operations should an infestation occur. It would
also make it functionally impossible for large-scale pests (such as locust
swarms) to decimate crops.

• Active anti-pest measures. In the event that a pest did get in, we could
respond more surgically or with more benign pesticides. We wouldn’t
need to rely as strongly on more toxic treatments, because the pests they
combat would be less present in the first place.

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Waste management. Indoor farms can be designed to minimize the use of

artificial fertilizers through composting. Whenever a plant dies, sheds material,
or leaves behind waste after harvest, that material can be collected into a
composting mechanism (shown in the concept image at the start of this chapter)
that can be mixed with other organic fertilizers and pumped directly into the
water supply used to irrigate crops. As much of the world’s soil is already facing
varying degrees of contamination (such as arsenic in rice and steroids in runoff
water from feed lots),426 this method translates to healthier food.

Diversity of crops. As their components would provide ideal growing

environments that are naturally pest-resistant, indoor farms can encourage
greater use of heirloom crops that might not fare as well as genetically modified
variants outdoors. This allows us to cultivate a greater variety of produce and
shift our focus towards growing food with higher nutritional properties,
expanding organic and farm-to-table markets.

Local operation. Indoor farms can be built in close proximity to metropolitan

areas, so that food is grown close to the people who consume it. Food production
in New York would be consumed by New Yorkers, food production in California
would be consumed by Californians. This simplifies the delivery of food from
farm to market, saving resources and allowing for fresher produce.

It can also present major improvements to how we provide food aid, as global
anti-famine initiatives usually involve shipping food that’s already grown. With
indoor farms, the system itself can comprise the aid, allowing stressed regions to
grow their own produce by themselves. This concept is discussed further in the
“Collective Capitalism” section of the Appendix (page 295).

Food efficiency. As touched on earlier, the benefits of indoor farming present

notable benefits for efficiency. Plenty corporation, an indoor farming startup,
claims that indoor farms can produce 350 times as much produce-per-acre of land
compared to traditional methods – with only 1% of the associated water usage.427
AeroFarms, a New Jersey indoor farming company, claims they can produce
upwards of 130 times the amount of produce grown per acre, with similar
reductions in water usage.428 Even if these numbers are inflated – which seems
unlikely, considering the ideal growing conditions and 24/7/365 growing season
that indoor farms provide – at even half the claimed efficiency improvements, the
benefits would still be enormous compared to traditional farming.

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In addition to growing efficiency, the efficiency of delivery, particularly as it

relates to food quality, must also be considered. Approximately 35% of the fruits
and vegetables we eat as Americans are imported from abroad, with leafy greens
traveling an average of 2,000 miles from farm to plate.429 Some produce travels for
weeks before being served, losing, at some estimates, 45% of its nutritional value
in the process.430 Further, Americans rarely buy unsightly produce. Locally grown
food would provide significant benefits in these areas.431

Food security. Local food production in isolated environments also allows us to

reduce security risks to our food supply. In late 2011, a Listeria outbreak in
cantaloupe killed more than 20 people in the United States,432 and food
contamination (and recalls) have proven relatively frequent as of late.433
Supermarkets across the nation are stocked with produce that comes from
different states, different countries, even different continents, and it’s hard to keep
track of where everything is coming from in real time. So, when an outbreak is
detected, our food networks are thrown into chaos until investigators can
pinpoint the source of the contamination and isolate it. With locally grown
produce, security issues, however rarer, are automatically isolated since
production environments are sealed.

This also protects our food supply from pathogens. Genetically modified crops,
often with identical genomes, make up large swaths of our food supply –
comprising approximately 90% of soy and corn.434 Of the crops with identical
genetics, any self-replicating pathogen that could infect one plant could

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potentially infect all of them.435 By design, indoor farms exercise self-quarantine,

which is likely the best defense they could have.

Indoor farming can provide local and sustainable food production while
systematically avoiding most of the obstacles that exist in agriculture today. But
beyond indoor growth in warehouses, we can integrate indoor farms directly
within urban environments – not only to supplement food production, but also
to serve as centerpieces for more advanced cities with next-generation
infrastructure.

Urban Vertical Farming

Since the end of World War II, American agriculture has increasingly represented
a centralized model where the majority of food is grown in one large region (the
“American Breadbasket”) and shipped elsewhere for processing and distribution.
This has led to logistical challenges that indoor farms are designed to address, but
providing a framework for climate-controlled indoor farming is only the first
step. The next is urban vertical farming.

An urban vertical farm doesn’t use a flat plot of land or a large warehouse, but
instead floors of city buildings that have been either built or modified for farming.
This approach has existed in varied forms for millennia (the hanging gardens of
Babylon perhaps most famous of them) and has been used in Europe since the
1850s.436 Today, urban vertical farms are being constructed in London, Chicago,
Milan and Newark, with future farms planned in several other cities.437

In the past, the feasibility of vertical farming has been limited by constraints
inherent to resource scarcity, namely the cost of energy and materials.438 With the
implementation of Universal Energy, these constraints would no longer be
present in force, reducing the limitations to building large-scale urban vertical
farms. The following concept images illustrate further.

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At first glance, these systems might appear somewhat futuristic, but from an
architectural or engineering standpoint, these designs present few challenges that
have not been solved already in other industries with today’s technology. They
are well within the realm of feasibility, especially if energy costs and material
limitations are removed from the equation. Even so, the following images show
urban vertical farms that are already operating around the world today:

Urban vertical farm in South Korea:

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Urban vertical farm in Chicago, Illinois:

Urban vertical farm in Singapore:

Urban vertical farm in Newark, New Jersey:

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Further, urban vertical farms have additional benefits that cannot be provided by
warehouse-style indoor farms, making them especially attractive for cities with
higher population densities. These include:

Smarter food production. While indoor farms may grow more crops at the size
of a warehouse, urban vertical farms can still provide a major boost to food
production. As urban vertical farms would exist directly within city centers, it
effectively zeroes out the distance between production and consumption. In
doing this, vertical farms redefine the notion of “farm to table,” as they would be
within short distance of the millions of people they could provide food for.

Municipal water recycling. In addition to integrated water management, vertical

farms could also solve problems that are not necessarily present outside of an
urban environment. Today, it is standard for water treatment systems to filter
water based on what its purpose was. Grey water (water that’s been used for
washing clothes or bathing) is treated differently than water that’s been used for
cleaning dishes, and both are treated differently than water that’s used to process
bodily waste. Using currently existing water filtration systems, semi-treated
waste water could be used in place of fresh water to grow crops in vertical farms.
This would aid in recycling municipal water and also reduce the stress vertical
farms could place on a given area’s water resources – unlimited water supply
through the National Aqueduct notwithstanding.

This said, it’s noteworthy that food production isn’t the only application for
vertical farming, as plants provide more value than just consumption. For
example:

Soil is a great insulator. The idea of placing greenhouses on rooftops has been
around for some time, and one of the most attractive supplementary benefits of
doing so is their insulation potential. As hot air rises through a building, it escapes
through the roof, which increases energy costs. Acting like a blanket, rooftop
greenhouses work to keep as much energy as possible within a given building.
This concept has already been applied in Italy with the Bosco Verticale towers in
Milan, which were completed in 2015.439

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Several cities have applied this concept further into law. New York City, for
example, recently passed legislation requiring green roofs on new buildings
within its jurisdiction.440 Denver, Portland, San Francisco and Chicago have
enacted similar measures to establish green rooftops for urban air purification
and temperature control of buildings.441

Plants are air purifiers. Plants are highly effective in scrubbing air of impurities
and contaminants, which are often concentrated in cities. Large-scale urban
agriculture through vertical farms can act as a massive, constant air filtration
system. As allergies and respiratory ailments have been on the rise, this can
provide a boost to public health both physically and mentally.442

China has taken this to heart

and has begun construction of
the world’s first “forest city”
that will integrate plants and
trees directly within city
buildings.443 Planned for a 2020
completion date, the city is
expected to be covered in one
million plants and forty
thousand trees.444

Indoor parks and greener cities are socially beneficial. Regardless of how far we
have come in terms of technological advancement, connection to nature is
important for human happiness, lower stress levels, higher productivity, and
positive life outlook. For those of us who live in cities, disconnection from nature
can sow the seeds of depression, and depression is a social toxin. But could you
imagine how much less stressful life would be if you could just take an elevator

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to the roof of your office building and hang out in a tropical park for 30 minutes
on your lunch break? Or walk off a city street into a large indoor park where it
was bright, colorful and warm?

Daily exposure to nature, however short, can make a major difference, which not
only leads to a happier and healthier society, but also improves collective hope,
and thus the collective drive to seek, build, and accomplish greater things. And
as real estate for public parks faces high costs in cities, devoting floors of a
building to a welcoming public hangout can significantly lower expenses for the
same deliverable – especially if the park is on the roof of a building.

Farming More Than Food

Indoor farming would significantly reduce stress on the American breadbasket,

requiring outdoor farmers to grow significantly less food than they do today to
meet demand. At first glance, this might seem like a trouble spot for farmers,
because growing less food means making less money. So, should indoor farms
give them cause to worry? No – because growing less produce gives them an
opportunity to grow other crops – crops that have both a higher density and
commercial value than the kind that generally makes their way to supermarkets.

For example, instead of growing corn or soy, farmers could instead grow:

Algae for biofuel or plastics. The rising price of petroleum over the past 15 years
– at least until the discovery of easier shale oil extraction – has led to a surge of
investment in biofuels.445 Biofuels are hydrocarbons that come from living plants,
as opposed to oil that comes from fossilized plant remains. Even though
Universal Energy would promote hydrogen as the nationwide fuel standard,
biofuels and existing petroleum reserves can be devoted to a more appropriate
purpose: advanced materials. Today, we use corn ethanol to make plastics,446 but
corn is not the most effective crop we have at our disposal.

That honor goes to algae.

Several forms of algae have properties that allow for hydrocarbon production.
The biofuel company Algenol claims that with today’s technology it can produce

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thousands of gallons of ethanol per acre of growing space, and we could increase
that output with Universal Energy.447 Further, since the energy and materials
industries tend to be more profitable than the food industry, what money might
be lost from a move to indoor food production could then be replaced – with
profits gained – from the shift to growing hydrocarbon-producing algae.

For comparison, the Department of Energy estimates that if we were to use algae
to replace petroleum in all respects in the United States, we would need an area
of about 15,000 square miles (roughly the size of Massachusetts and Connecticut
combined).448 That’s less than 1/7th of the space we use for corn, meaning if we
were to move much of our food production indoors, we would have ample space
to grow algae – and plenty of economic dividends for farmers to go along with it.

Concept image of an outdoor algae farm.

Algae for supplemental nutrition. Beyond uses in plastics and materials, algae
can also be grown for added nutritional value in food products. The species
chlorella, in particular, is among the most promising candidates.

By all definitions a “superfood,” dried chlorella is comprised of 45% protein, 20%

lipids (fats), 20% carbohydrates, 10% vitamins/minerals and 5% fiber.449 This
composition, combined with a high photosynthetic efficiency (how well

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something grows in sunlight), gives chlorella one of the highest protein yields of
any crop.450 That’s why, after World War II, chlorella was considered as a solution
to the then-global food crisis.451 At the time, chlorella was difficult to grow outside
of laboratories, but with advances in technology post-1950 – and the added
benefits Universal Energy provides – we have the ability to grow a potent
nutritional supplement that can be used to enhance any segment of the food
supply. One that, just as importantly, can also provide supplemental nutrition in
remote or isolated locations.

Alternative use of genetically modified organisms. One benefit to indoor

farming is its ability to grow heirloom crops with yields that are similar to
genetically modified crops in outdoor environments. However, this is not to say
that genetic modification of plants is a negative thing in and of itself, but rather
that its benefits can also be realized in other applications, something that bears
special mention in this context.

Much of the anti-GMO movement452 has focused on opposing any manipulation

of crops at the genetic level, rather than genetic engineering that allows a plant
to survive otherwise lethal pesticides and herbicides.453 While this writing does
not maintain a skeptical position on the current state of genetic engineering in our
food supply, it suggests a moment of pause as to the wisdom of disavowing an
entire scientific discipline because a corporation engineered plants with a genetic
immunity to a relative of organophosphate nerve agents.454

People have been genetically engineering plants for millennia through splicing,
cross breeding, and human (as opposed to natural) selection. We were modifying
genomes then, we just weren’t doing it under a microscope. It’s what we do to a
plant, and our guiding ethical standards when we do it, that ultimately matters.
So, what if we instead extended the genetic modification of plants to a different
focus? For example:

Efficiency of hydrocarbon production. Potential yields of hydrocarbon-

producing algae for plastics and chemical stabilizers are already high.455
However, we could configure the plant at a genetic level to produce even greater
volumes of hydrocarbons that can induce a higher-percent yield when
synthesizing plastics,456 that are geared for more advanced polymerization457 and
that recycle more effectively (or biodegrade faster) than most plastics today. We’ll
go through this in more detail next chapter.

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Inclusion of bacteria. Algae isn’t the only organism that can produce
hydrocarbons. Scientists in several countries have successfully modified the
genetics of E. coli bacteria to produce diesel fuel that is nearly identical to the
diesel derived from petroleum458 – and, in theory, genetic modification could help
us produce other hydrocarbons synthetically,459 as well as accelerate the disposal
of their plastic derivatives.460

Maximum growth. Beyond genetic engineering for industrial applications, food

crops can be genetically modified in ways that do not raise as many concerns as
the genetically modified crops of today. This might include engineering plants to
maximize growth within indoor farms, produce larger and/or more nutritious
products, or be able to optimally operate under a longer daylight-to-night ratio.

What’s Next?

As a system, indoor farming delivers indefinitely abundant supplies of food.

Backed by the auspices of Universal Energy and an effectively unlimited supply
of both water, electricity and fuel, it can grow enough food to feed the entire
planet. This can eradicate the concept of famine as we know it and greatly
improve global stability and economic growth – saying nothing of the cascading
humanitarian benefits. That, by itself, is a transformational goal to reach.

Yet the tools that make it possible have a secondary, vital function through the
provision of the building blocks of next-generation synthetic materials. And that,
once delivered, is the final piece we need to evolve beyond a zero-sum resource
paradigm, and the final piece we need to build our civilization upward to ever-
greater heights.

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The next episode of 3D printing will involve printing entirely new kinds of materials.
Eventually we will print complete products – circuits, motors and batteries all included.
At that point, all bets are off.

- Hod Lipson

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Chapter Ten: Materials and

Recycling
Electricity. Fuel. Water. Food. Universal Energy and the systems it powers can
sustainably deliver all of these resources indefinitely. Yet even with these four
resources provided, we still need materials with which to power our ever-
evolving economy and build our ever-advancing society. Materials are
themselves a resource, and as such they remain subject to the same laws of cost
and scarcity as energy resources. Forests get cut down, quarries run dry, and both
metal and composites are subject to market forces driven by scarcity.

To address this problem, Universal Energy’s next function is to power systems

that can synthesize and recycle materials. With these materials, we can build
things better, stronger, and less expensively than we can today. Just as
importantly, these materials enable us to remove major limitations to our
manufacturing capabilities and revolutionize the properties and performance of
what we can build. Universal Energy’s approach in this context begins with four
concepts: advanced synthetics, sophisticated waste management and intelligent
recycling, arriving finally at the bleeding-edge of next-generation manufacturing.

Advanced Synthetics

Previous chapters have alluded to technological breakthroughs that have allowed

us to build sophisticated systems on scales and at prices that were previously
thought impossible. Of these breakthroughs, several have involved the invention
of high-performance synthetic polymers – commonly referred to as “plastics.”
When we think of plastics, we often imagine substances we’d see around our
homes or workplaces: grocery bags, containers, appliance sidings, and the like.
These kinds of plastics are commonly used in manufacturing because they are
easy to produce at relatively low cost.

Yet plastics have problems. For one, they don’t biodegrade well and they can’t be
easily recycled. Consequently – once we’re done with them, they’re stuffed in
landfills, or worse, end up in our oceans at severe environmental impact.461

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Additionally, plastics that can be recycled at all have a low “percent yield,” which
is the amount of final material produced from the original supply material.462 That
means it might take 10 lbs. of source material to make 1 lb. of plastic, which is too
inefficient to be viable on a large scale – especially if the 9 lbs. of material lost as
waste is environmentally toxic.463 We’ve made progress towards solving this
problem, but making plastics that have both a high percent yield and are easily
recyclable has proven challenging. Recent advances, however, have made
reaching this goal more feasible.

The first of these advances is the one that’s made Universal Energy possible to
begin with: sophisticated computing. Since computers became prevalent in
industrial and research settings, their performance has increased at a truly
exponential rate. Today, they’re millions of times more powerful than they were
in their first iterations.464 And faster computers – especially boosted by artificial
intelligence (A.I.)465 and machine learning466 – can help chemical engineers create
models to manufacture ever-better synthetic materials.

This becomes all the more possible through quantum computing, a potentially
revolutionary method that uses quantum physics to dramatically increase
processing speed.467 Computers today can only process one calculation at a time,
whereas quantum computers could, in theory, process millions of calculations
simultaneously.468 While still in its infancy, computer scientists estimate quantum
computing could surpass traditional computing as early as 2021,469 presenting
even stronger implications for the future performance of A.I.

Considering that modern computers – while only processing one calculation at a

time – can still process quadrillions of calculations per second,470 speeding this up
by a factor of millions could allow for potentially instantaneous data processing
of presently daunting calculations. What that allows us to do is model material
synthesis with more insight and predict how to create recyclable materials with a
higher percent yield at increased efficiency and reduced cost.471

The second advancement getting us closer to superior plastics is the genetic

modification of algae and bacteria to produce specialized hydrocarbons.472
Accessing such hydrocarbons can give us an increased capability to tailor
synthetic materials to fit our needs. With customizable hydrocarbons, ever-better
A.I. and quantum computing at our fingertips, we can have more granular control
over the composition of source chemicals as well as detailed models that we can

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use to manipulate those chemicals into plastics and other synthetics that meet
demanding performance requirements.473

Add in Universal Energy’s ability to decrease energy costs, and we have

promising new tools that can unite to revolutionize the materials we use to build
and improve our world.

We’re already on our way to realizing that future, even with current technology
and material limitations. Consider a list of some standouts on the market today:

Nanocomposite plastics. Researchers have discovered that by layering ceramic

nanosheets (very thin sheets made from clay) over each other and combining
them with a polymer that works similar to elementary-school-style white glue,
the ceramic nanosheets will interlace with one another like bricks at the molecular
level, creating a structure as strong as hardened steel.474 This suggests that
nanocomposite plastics might have a wide array of potential uses, including high-
performance applications within aerospace, transportation, defense, and civil
engineering.

High-strength polyurethane (Line-X). Polyurethane is a type of polymer that has

an extremely high impact tolerance, which makes it both durable and useful for
shock absorption. While commonly used to finish wood products, more robust
varieties perform herculean feats of durability. A practical example is Line-X, a
nigh-indestructible spray-on coating used to line the beds of pickup trucks and
other industrial machinery.475 To demonstrate its performance, eggs are coated
and dropped off buildings onto concrete, watermelons are coated and driven over
with trucks, plastic cups are coated and stepped on by Sumo wrestlers – all
without effect, as seen at the links in this citation.476 While these are admittedly
hyperbolic demonstrations of polyurethane’s capabilities, they nonetheless allude
to the potential for more practical applications in any instance where flexibility
under stress and impact resistance are requirements.

FR-4. The common name for a high-strength, flame-resistant composite made

from glass-reinforced epoxy, FR-4 is one of the strongest synthetic materials in the
world.477 Not only is it highly resistant to chemicals (including acids), ultraviolet
radiation, and electricity, it is also lightweight and extremely strong. For
comparison, the tensile strength of structural steel and aerospace-grade
aluminum are ~40,000 PSI and ~43,500 PSI, respectively.478 The tensile strength of
FR-4 is ~45,000 PSI.479 This allows components made with FR-4 to retain fine detail

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and be built to tight tolerances, enabling their use in high-precision

manufacturing, aerospace and space exploration.

Synthetic wood. Improvements in material science have brought several brands

of artificial wood to market. Made from “downcycled” plastics, recycled organic
wood and other composites, synthetic
wood is used for decks, framing, siding
and supports for millions of structures
worldwide. It is already a $3.4 billion
industry, and it’s still growing.480 Synthetic
wood is fire-resistant and lasts longer than
traditional wood. It’s also strong enough to support the weight of a locomotive,
as the above image of Ecotrax™ synthetic railroad ties demonstrates.

This strength allows synthetic wood to potentially replace traditional wood in the
construction of houses, buildings, bridges – anything, really. Cost presently
remains a limiting factor, but in a world powered by effectively unlimited cheap
energy – and with abundant resources – these costs would likely fall substantially,
allowing for an indefinite supply of yet another building material.

Superior metallurgy. Metallurgy has been an evolving science for thousands of

years, allowing humanity to build ever-greater alloys from combinations of
metallic elements. To create these substances, we’ve generally needed three
components: base materials, a forge to contain heat, and a source of energy to
provide that heat. Building forges that operate at specific heats and pressures has
not been prohibitively difficult for some time, so delivering the second
component is relatively straightforward.

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However, the other two components – source materials and heat energy – have
been more elusive, or, at least, more expensive. But we’ve accomplished much
with the technology we have today. Researchers have developed new superalloys
that push the boundaries of strength-to-weight ratios,481 new steels as strong as
titanium482 and specialized alloys that can increase the safety and performance of
nuclear reactors.483 A world powered by nigh-unlimited cheap energy and an
abundant supply of source materials only stands to accelerate this even further,
with improved quality control and more-precise manufacturing following suit.

----------

Although they are samples from a far longer list, these materials are all
commercially available as you read this. Each stands to further benefit from the
future performance improvements provided by subsequent technological
innovation. Yet as impressive as they are, they each ultimately bow in honor of
another synthetic material. One that, by itself alone, carries unrivaled potential to
revolutionize our way of life. That material is graphene.

The Graphene Key

In Chapter Five, we briefly discussed graphene’s potential to make hydrogen

storage tanks. But that’s only the start of its capabilities. As a base concept,
graphene is a single atom-thick sheet of carbon that takes the shape of a hexagonal
lattice. Extraordinarily thin in form, it has three distinct traits:

1. Extreme strength. With an overall strength roughly 200 times that of

hardened steel, graphene is the strongest-known material on Earth – as well

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as one of the lightest.484 It’s also highly resistant to both corrosion and heat,
with a melting point in excess of 8,132°F (4,500°C). During a 2008 interview
with graphene’s inventor, Professor of Engineering John Home at Columbia
University, he remarked:

“Our research establishes graphene as the strongest material ever measured, some
200 times stronger than structural steel. It would take an elephant, balanced on a
pencil, to break through graphene the thickness of Saran Wrap.”

2. Flexibility. As graphene is formed by sheets of carbon as potentially thin as

one atom it can retain a rigid structure or be as flexible as a sheet of paper. It
can further function at full strength when assuming a range of shapes, even
when designed to bend or stretch.

3. Conductivity. Graphene is a lattice of carbon atoms, and in such a form is an

excellent conductor of electricity.485 This enables graphene to lend its strength
and flexibility to anything electrical – as a function of either transmission,
structure, or storage.

The combination of these three traits make graphene useful for a wide array of
applications that serve critical roles in our society.

They include:

Consumer electronics. As an ultra-strong and ultra-conductive material,

graphene can be used to create sophisticated electronics that are highly durable.
The following images show prototype mobile phones with graphene screens that
are both flexible and thousands of times stronger than today’s phone screens.

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Electronics made with graphene can also store large amounts of data in small
physical spaces.486 The following images show a concept for a new type of jump
drive that works like sticky post-it notes,487 which while not currently in
production are well within the realm of technical feasibility.

Graphene’s conductivity also gives it high capacities for data transfer, some
7,000% faster than today’s commercial methods.488 Researchers have conducted
experiments that show graphene antennas can transmit data at speeds of up to
100 terabytes a second.489 To contextualize, a high-definition feature-length film
generally ranges from 3-9 gigabytes in size. There are 1,000 gigabytes in a
terabyte. Assuming an average size of 6 gigabytes, this translates to a transfer
capacity of approximately 166 high-definition films per-second.

Medicine. High strength and conductivity with low weight and reactivity gives
graphene excellent potential for medical applications.490 Uses include stents to
prevent arterial restriction, high strength and lightweight casts for injuries and
providing the physical scaffolding to help paralyzed people walk again.

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High-performance energy storage. Graphene is uniquely well-suited to hold

energy in capacitors, which work through direct energy storage as opposed to
batteries that technically require a chemical reaction to generate a charge.491 Most
portable electricity in our day-to-day lives involve batteries, and they’re generally
preferred to capacitors because they normally have a higher “energy density” –
the amount of energy stored in a system per unit volume.

But graphene’s different.

Because it’s so thin and conductive, graphene can form “supercapacitors” that can
function at equal to even superior levels than high-performance lithium-ion
batteries.492 These supercapacitors are made by layering sheets of graphene
between an electrolyte that’s then encased in non-conductive plastic. The
following two images show a theoretical cross-section of a graphene capacitor and
a real-world prototype of such a capacitor, respectively.

But these prototypes reflect the relatively new emergence of graphene research.
As graphene can be made microscopically thin (theoretically to the scale of an
atom), advances in manufacturing can eventually enable us to drastically increase
the potential surface area of graphene used for direct energy storage.

To conceptualize: let’s imagine a sheet of printer paper, which is 0.1mm thick.493

Pretty thin, right? For human eyes, certainly, but not when we’re thinking of a
substance that could potentially be microscopically thin. Let’s say that we become
able to reliably manufacture insulated graphene capacitance sheets to the
thickness of a micron (0.001mm). As a sheet of 8.5x11” printer paper has a
thickness of 0.1mm,494 it would take 100 micron-thick sheets of graphene, then, to
comprise one sheet of 8.5x11” printer paper. As there are 25.4 millimeters to the
inch, we can derive that a one-inch-thick stack of printer paper would have 254
individual pieces. At 100 graphene sheets per piece of paper, that translates to
25,400 sheets of graphene per inch of thickness.

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It’s not uncommon for a standard car battery to have a width and depth similar
to a sheet of printer paper. If we were to assume a height of ten inches, we could
layer as many as 250,000 graphene sheets in that same volume. At 8.5x11”, a sheet
of printer paper has a surface area of about 0.65 square feet. At 250,000 sheets
strong, that would amount to a total of 162,500 square feet. A football field, for
comparison (including end zones) has a surface area of 57,600 square feet.495 That
means this graphene box would contain the equivalent surface area of 2.5 football
fields, yet compacted to the size of a car battery – and made with flexible, non-
toxic materials that are 600 times lighter than structural steel and 200 times
stronger.

A 2017 paper from The Nanotechnology Journal claimed that graphene

supercapacitors today can deliver levels of performance that begin to eclipse
industry-grade lithium-ion batteries.496 Lithium-ion batteries are also much
heavier, more expensive and have increased environmental and humanitarian
costs.497 That graphene supercapacitors in their infancy can already compete with
high-performance lithium-ion batteries – as well as directly interface with
hydrogen fuel cells – further supports their candidacy for future deployment as a
solid-state energy solution.

Structural material. Extremely strong. Completely flexible – or reliably rigid.

Capable of storing tremendous energy in a tiny footprint. Graphene isn’t
revolutionary because it’s impressive in each of these categories, it’s
revolutionary because it’s impressive in all of these categories.

Consequently, it can transform the way we build things. Take the electric car for
instance.

Instead of an electric car storing packs of heavy batteries, the car’s chassis can be
interwoven layers of graphene and can itself be the energy storage medium.
When you think of the 162,500 square feet of surface area that could be potentially
stored within the size of a car battery, an entire vehicle chassis is a subsequently
higher order. We could potentially reach points where we could interweave
millions of square feet of energy storage medium within a single electric vehicle
– increasing range, reliability and structural integrity at far less weight.

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Graphene enables us to wield strength, flexibility in form, and energy storage all
at once, each potentially at a higher degree of performance than we can manage
with leading commercial solutions today. Tomorrow’s skyscrapers, bridges,
public infrastructure, transportation systems – each can also serve as electricity
storage. And through Universal Energy’s core offerings of electricity, fuel and
heat, we have the means to synthesize graphene and other revolutionary
materials easier and at less expense than we can today.

While this is key to a clean energy future, making materials is only one part of the
equation. Whatever we construct must in turn be recycled or disposed of in an
end-of-life cycle. The framework accounts for this through several approaches on
both land – and sea – that can present major environmental improvements.

Next-Generation Waste Management

Technology has brought us the litany of conveniences that define our modern era,
yet these conveniences have come with a massive waste footprint – a problem that
has proven deeply challenging to manage. We’ve taken several approaches to
process our immense volumes of trash: burying it in landfills, attempting to
recycle old materials into new materials, “downcycling” waste into usable
products (such as making park benches from shredded plastic bottles), or simply
burning it. But none have truly succeeded in managing this issue on a global scale.

Universal Energy intends to change that. While it’s true that a goal of the
framework is improving our ability to recycle things like plastics from the design
stage, recycling complex polymers is inherently difficult. And when we consider
the extent of waste across the globe, the problem seems daunting, no matter how
sophisticated our technology becomes.

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Worse, even while advances in recycling certain materials show promise, and
getting rid of single-use plastic products is a laudable goal, each ultimately does
little to turn the tide of our global waste accumulation.498 The solution to this
problem must be massive and immediate, effective and achievable – and all on a
planetary scale. There presently aren’t many technologies that can meet these
requirements, but one called plasma gasification can.499

In concept, the “gasification” of waste isn’t much different than incineration –

simply burning it as humanity has done for millennia. But gasification uses a
high-intensity electric current to create a plasma – an ultra-hot state of ionized gas
– to separate trash into two separate states: the first, a material known as “syngas”
that can be used as a fuel in myriad applications, as shown on an accompanying
overview diagram. The second is an inert slag that can be used to make other
useful materials like concrete, roads and insulation.500

Plasma gasification itself can also be harnessed as a potent source of energy,

which can be used to both sustain its electric current and power other processes.501
Normal incineration requires fuel and works at much lower temperatures,
leaving behind harmful byproducts that present dangers to both public health
and the environment. Gasification avoids these issues completely.

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Overview of Plasma Gasification:

Source: AlterNRG, inc.

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Gasification vs. Incineration

Plasma Gasification Incineration (burning)

Temperature High temperature, Medium heat (870-1200 °C)
1,400-1,600 °C
Emissions Does not create air Allows toxic atmospheric
pollutants. pollutants to form.
Byproducts ~99% of waste ~30% of the waste material
material becomes remains as toxic ash.
usable material.
Useful Products Syngas and an inert None. Incineration is among
slag which is used in the most expensive and
building materials polluting methods of waste
and roads. management.
Power Generates power. 502 Requires fuel.

Table source.503

Plasma gasification is an integral part of Universal Energy, that when partnered

with other technologies in the framework, brings sophisticated waste
management to any energy-generating ensemble. This application is vital to a
clean energy future that presents minimal impact to Earth’s ecology. But it can be
applied further to an even more critical task: cleaning our oceans.

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Over decades of mass extraction, international consumerism and irresponsible

waste disposal, ocean trash has become a major problem on a global scale. There’s
so much garbage floating in Earth’s seas today that it’s now accumulated into
patches that are thousands of miles across.

Each major ocean has a large accumulation of trash within primary ocean currents
(referred to as “gyres.”)504 The picture above outlines the “great pacific garbage
patch,” one of five worldwide.

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Worse, waste from these massive piles is continually decomposing into smaller
pieces – and these smaller pieces are being consumed by marine life. This poisons
the creatures it doesn't kill, which eventually makes its way into humans when
we eat seafood. Currently, some 3.2 billion people rely on seafood for almost 20
percent of their animal protein intake.505

Science and industry are aware of this problem and have invented promising
tools to help reverse course. The Ocean Cleanup Project, for instance, recently
launched a gigantic sieve consisting of floating pipes and netting that corrals trash
into a U-shape for future processing.506 In concept, several of these sieves would
float with ocean currents to slowly accumulate trash over time, with the hope of
eventually cleaning up marine environments completely.

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But that step of “accumulation” presents another important question. Once the
trash is corralled, what do we do with it? And how does cleaning up ocean trash
in one place prevent it from being reintroduced to marine environments
elsewhere? Universal Energy’s answer to this question is something called a
“Trident Facility.”

A Trident Facility is built like an offshore oil rig – a large floating facility that can
navigate any ocean in the world. Yet instead of drilling for oil, it would both
synthetically produce resources and dispose of ocean trash cleanly and safely.

Here’s how they would work:

1. The primary power source of a Trident Facility is a small LFTR, which

provides the core power for the plasma gasification of ocean trash and the
residual energy needed to power auxiliary, resource-producing systems.

A cooperating series of Trident Facilities would scour the oceans and suck
in trash from one of their four floating legs or a central lift. Ideally, these
would work in conjunction with floating trash collectors like those from
the Ocean Cleanup Project. From there, trash would be processed via a
plasma gasifier to become syngas or the slag that can be turned into useful
materials.

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2. The excess energy generated from the LFTR and the plasma gasifier would
be further used to extract fresh water and hydrogen fuel from seawater,
just as with CHP Plants. This could be used to resupply large ships on-
demand, enabling Trident Facilities to serve as minature ports or
emergency safe havens.

3. Beyond trash gasification, hydrogen production, and seawater

desalination, any excess energy produced by Trident Facilities would be
used to power atmospheric scrubbers to reduce air pollution and
greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere.

Trident facilities earn their namesake because they perform three unique roles:
ocean cleanup, resource production and atmospheric scrubbing: three points of
Poseidon’s trident. They enable us to work to eradicate ocean trash, while using
the byproducts to make useful materials. This helps us come ever closer to the
material revolution Universal Energy seeks to make the new normal.

The Circular Economy

We build thousands of products on an industrial scale today, but once those

products become obsolete, the materials used in them have often not been
recycled or repurposed outside of scrap yards. Engineering and financial
limitations, difficulties with transporting materials to recycling locations, extant
systems with which to recycle them, and the energy necessary to power those
systems are all limiting factors. With Universal Energy, it becomes easier to take
a sophisticated machine, strip out non-recyclable materials and send them off for
plasma gasification, and extract recyclable substances that remain – retaining
them for use elsewhere in manufacturing and fabrication.

The underlying concept behind this approach is commonly referred to as a

“Circular Economy” – an economic system aimed at reducing waste and
maximizing efficiency through the continual re-use of resources and materials.507
In most instances, implementations of circular economies seek to minimize the
use of new resources and the creation of waste, pollution and greenhouse gas
emissions, and instead employ concepts of refurbishment, remanufacturing and
intelligent recycling at scale to keep already-present resources and materials in
play.508 The underlying idea is that “waste” is contextual, and opposed to a
traditional “linear economy” that functions on a production model of “extract,

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manufacture, sell and dispose” a circular economy leverages as many

technological methods as feasible to enable regenerative resources and materials
for the “circular” reproduction – and upgrade – of systems in a model that’s as
closed-loop as possible.509

Linear vs. Circular Economy

Implementations of circular economies are not necessarily novel concepts, and

the systems that can perform such processes already exist today. But Universal
Energy significantly increases the scale at which this can be accomplished while
lowering energy and resource costs. As a result, we would be able to supplement
next-generation manufacturing with recycled materials more effectively than we
can today, both reducing the need to acquire new materials and enabling the
expansion of circular economic models on larger scales – nationwide, or even
global. Not only does this improve how we can build things from the design stage,
it fundamentally transforms our capabilities to manufacture, recycle and upgrade
advanced systems. Examples include:

Intelligent deconstruction. Many products today are simply too complex to be

recycled cost-effectively. Consequently, once discarded, they are often thrown in
landfills. Reduced energy and material expenses, modern computer systems, and
novel engineering methods have lowered the costs of recycling consumer
electronics, vehicles, ships, buildings, and airplanes. And as we improve how
those things are recycled – or more specifically, disassembled and recycled – this
gives us the opportunity to tweak our manufacturing methods to build products
that can be disassembled, recycled, and/or upgraded in a modular capacity.

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Reduced costs and material requirements. Beyond removing energy as a

significant expense, the ability to repurpose older models into newer ones means
we don’t have to build new products from scratch. For example: instead of a
vehicle going to a scrap yard once it gets old, we could instead engineer that
vehicle to be stripped down to its basic components by a factory and refurbished
into a newer model – a concept that could be applied to essentially any product.

This form of recycling benefits both consumers and manufacturers. It gives

consumers the ability to exchange obsolete models for credit toward a newer
model and reduces the expenses manufacturers pay to acquire materials and
create products. These benefits contribute to cost savings for both parties, and also
increase the agility of manufacturing by allowing us to do more with what we
have currently. Plenty of companies strive to reach this goal, but increasing the
number of companies who do so alongside advances in energy generation and
material procurement increases the efficacy of this recycling method – promoting
its adoption within a greater share of market sectors.

Reduced waste footprint. Intelligent waste management, an abundant supply of

cheap energy, indefinite supplies of synthetic materials, and deconstruction-
focused engineering reduces the waste footprint of manufacturing processes.
With Universal Energy, we wouldn’t need to build as many products at the
expense of the environment, nor would we need to build products that are
destined for landfills. By upgrading and reconnecting our energy production,
material procurement, manufacturing methods and recycling infrastructure, the
lifecycle of a product is contained from start to finish – reducing nature’s presence
in the equation.

----------

From Here, We Have Now Reached Three Important

Goals:

1. With Universal Energy, it becomes much easier to make next-generation

synthetics that can outperform even the most advanced materials we have
today – synthetics that we can use to build and improve practically anything.

2. With Universal Energy, we can dispose of waste and recycle products easier
and at far greater scale than we can at present.

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3. With goals #1 and #2 met, we can now design systems and products to
eventually be disassembled, repurposed, and/or upgraded – turning products
into long-term investments instead of one-use discardables.

Combined with computer-aided manufacturing methods like additive/3D

printing, this can transform the way our society manufactures products.510
Traditionally, such manufacturing approaches have allowed companies to
rapidly prototype new designs or hobbyists to make improved or replacement
parts for various projects.

However, advances in commercial applications of this technology have

revolutionized the capabilities present at our fingertips, enabling us to
manufacture complex shapes and even the preliminary foundations for
replacement organs.511

Left: 3D-printed multidimensional object. Right: concept image of 3D-printed heart.

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One example with strong industrial potential is present in modern metal 3D

printing, such as models from the MarkForged company – a leader in 3D metal
printing innovation.

MarkForged’s Metal-X models are capable of building complex shapes to the

micron or better tolerances out of high-strength thermoplastics, fiberglass, Kevlar,
carbon fiber, titanium and both stainless and high-strength tool steel.512 According
to their already-at-market commercial data sheets, their printing methods can
build shapes up to 100 times less expensively than traditional casting or
machining.513

The following three images respectively show a pump impeller, camshaft

sprocket and aircraft bracket printed with their technology.

Another example is “selective laser melting” – a method of applying a high-

intensity laser to a bed of fine metallic powder (steel, aluminum, titanium,
metallic alloy or graphene composite) to manufacture highly detailed shapes, also
at micron-or-better tolerances, that meet the highest material strengths
commercially available.514

Like 3D metal printing, these shapes can reflect practically any attribute that can
be envisioned on any axis, and be either solid, hollow, or solid with embedded
pathways for isolated fluids.

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Image source: DMG Mori

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Image source: DMG Mori

Without question, the sophistication and precision of these capabilities raises the
bar of our manufacturing prowess to uncharted heights. Yet because their
deliverables can now also be manufactured as iterative models at the push of a
button – and can also further be built using the strongest and most resilient
materials presently available – these advances can be integrated into any aspect of a
modular, standardized and scalable manufacturing chain.

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Combined, this changes the game completely – all the more so since these
technologies are in their infancy and stand to advance over time with
proportionally higher sophistication and proportionally reduced costs. It’s the
last piece of the puzzle that we require to build whatever we could need or want.
When backed by a technical framework that provides effectively unlimited
energy and critical resources by design, this enables us to extend that capability
to any social sector we could imagine. And that, in sum, allows us to land the final
blow to defeat resource scarcity outright.

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When I think about creating abundance, it's not about creating a life of luxury for
everybody on this planet; it's about creating a life of possibility. It is about taking that
which was scarce and making it abundant.

- Peter Diamandis

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Chapter Eleven: The End of

Resource Scarcity
We’ve frequently touched on how Universal Energy is based on a mindset of
standardization and modularity. If you recall, modularity is the idea of designing
a system to be flexible yet standardized in deployment. A great example of this are
USB accessories. Devices of all kinds – from webcams to smartphones to external
hard drives – can connect to your computer via the same standardized USB port,
yet can be modularly added, removed or swapped with ease.

Another familiar example is an AC power cable. Every electronic device in your

home connects to power via the same type of standardized plug. Each device
doesn’t have its own unique connection – that would be a crazy mess! That’s why
they’re all built to a universal standard. Audio/visual ports (HDMI), and
Bluetooth devices are all extensions of this idea.

Standardizing a function to be modular reduces complications for building things

and lowers the bar (and research + development costs) for manufacturing. For
these reasons, standardization and modularity are driving principles when
building sophisticated products. But these principles have only been taken so far.

We saw earlier how most power plants are built as unique entities – they might
standardize a doorway, railing or stairwell, but the system as a whole is
essentially made to order. The same is true with most larger-scale things in our
society. With few exceptions, every bridge built, tunnel dug, railway laid or
building erected was done so as a custom entity – made to order, each and every
time. This is because we are presently living in a world with technical limitations
that would make it difficult to build something like a skyscraper or bridge on a
factory assembly line. Removing this limitation is one of the final functions
Universal Energy is intended to perform.

With a nigh-unlimited supply of all critical resources – especially energy, fuel and
materials – we have the building blocks to build as much as we want, however
we want. As we further have sophisticated computing and modeling, next-
generation manufacturing with advanced synthetics and precise tolerances, we
can automate the construction of sophisticated systems on a larger scale.

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The application of this idea is commonly known as “prefabrication” – building

something in a factory and assembling it at a final location instead of constructing
it from scratch with basic building materials. It’s an approach we’ve been
improving for years, but recent advances in manufacturing have enabled us to
increase its scale, sophistication and potential applications.515

For example, this is a prefabricated house:

This house was not constructed at this location, it was assembled here. There were
no workers on-site cutting wood for framing or nailing in subfloors. Pieces of this
house were built on a factory assembly line, just like we build vehicles. They were
delivered by a truck to a construction site, and this house was assembled in a
matter of days.

This house came with a finished interior, with all electrical, plumbing and heating
elements pre-installed. Should the homeowners decide one day that they want to
expand the size of their home, it would be a matter of bringing in a new piece,
removing modular components from the original house, and fastening the new
piece into the whole. If they wanted to move, they could disassemble their house,
put it on trucks, and assemble it again somewhere else. Essentially, we can now
build houses with life-sized Legos.

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Prefabricated houses have been growing in popularity,516 especially since they

offer high energy efficiency and durability. However, the price of these homes is
still comparatively steep. Today, the cost to deliver a fully finished prefabricated
house ranges between $140-$200 per square foot or more, considerably higher
than the $125 per square foot national average for a traditionally constructed
home.517

But this price range includes expenses inherent to any fledgling industry – initial
research and development, prototyping, and marketing among them – and those
costs have to be recouped through fewer sales in a smaller-if-growing market. The
energy and materials needed to both construct and transport these prefabricated
homes are also a considerable expense. Universal Energy helps to mitigate these
cost factors, and with future advances in synthetic materials, the total cost of these
houses could drop significantly.

Houses are only one example of the potential benefits of prefabrication, as

practically anything can be built this way: LFTRs, renewable energy, Multi-Stage
Flash Distillation Facilities, hydrogen production systems, CHP Plants, National
Aqueduct and urban vertical farm components, Trident Facilities, and even larger
buildings and civil infrastructure.

To understand the implications of prefabrication, take a look at the following two

images. The image below and to the left shows the Boeing Corporation's Everett,
Washington facility that can mass-manufacture a complete 737 jet aircraft every
nine days.518 Their flagship 787 Dreamliner aircraft can be manufactured to
completion in as few as seventeen days.519 (Don’t let the indictable corner-cutting520
of the 737 MAX scandal fool you, either – both Boeing and Airbus have been mass-
manufacturing commercial aircraft with 100% safety reliability for years). The
image below and to the right shows a 30-story prefabricated structure built by the

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Broad Sustainable Buildings corporation in Changsha, China that was assembled

on-site in 15 days.521 That’s two stories of a building, per day.

For comparison: both of these feats were accomplished faster than the time it takes
Budweiser to brew a bottle of beer.522

The start-to finish timeline of the four pictures below is 15 days.

These achievements were accomplished with today’s technology. With the energy
cost reductions and improvements to both manufacturing and materials
Universal Energy brings, the possibilities expand. We can sustainably
prefabricate advanced systems on massive scales, and we can build things better

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and less expensively than we can today. This enables us to dramatically advance
our economy, society and infrastructure. But we can also ensure shelter as a
resource – which brings us back to housing. At this scale of manufacturing
prowess, building small residences on assembly lines becomes trivial.

For example, the images below show houses made from shipping containers – the
same kind used to transport goods on trucks and cargo ships. Shipping containers
are so inexpensive to make that in some cases, it’s actually cheaper to use new
containers than it is to ship the empty ones back to their origin.523 Thousands of
containers nationwide are routinely left near shipping yards, prompting
innovative architects to use them as housing:

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Shipping containers are plentiful and, naturally, easy to transport. Each container
is made from steel, which is extremely resilient and boasts a high load strength.
With today’s energy, shipping, and manufacturing costs, a single-container home
can be delivered for between $20,000-$40,000.524 The last home on the previous
page, for example, was fully constructed for less than $40,000.525 If energy and
material expense reductions are applied by way of Universal Energy, these costs
would likely drop substantially.

Shipping containers are far from our only prefabricated housing option. U.S. tech
startup ICON, for example, can prefabricate a 650-square-foot house in less than
24 hours at a cost of $10,000 or less.526 They use a large 3D printer to pour a
concrete mix layer by layer, creating a solid structure that’s significantly stronger
than traditional stick-framed construction. The company has already built more
than 800 homes in partnership with local communities in Bolivia, Mexico, Haiti,
and El Salvador.527 In developing nations, the company estimates homes like the
ones below could be manufactured for less than $4,000.528 ICON’s market sector
is shared by companies in Russia,529 Dubai530 and Amsterdam that manufacture
comparable models.531

The MADi corporation in Italy has taken a different approach, using folding joints
to create small residences that can be set up in hours.

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As a modular, standardized structure with a base cost below $40,000, MADi

folding house shapes can be integrated together and extended to feature a wide
array of configurations:

These advances in prefabricated residential construction have given our society a

cost-effective method of manufacturing and transporting houses practically
anywhere. This especially includes homes built small enough to be deployed on
smaller plots of land that are either publicly owned, extended via land grant or
purchased using charitable funds – further increasing social utility and
philanthropic value.

But what are the greater implications of the expansion of materials and
construction methods for smaller-scale residential dwelling? Most importantly,
for a modest investment we can now provide quality living spaces for anyone
who needs a home, such as:

Victims of natural disasters. As events like Hurricanes Katrina, Harvey, Maria

and Dorian have demonstrated – alongside tornados, flooding and ever-
worsening wildfires around the world – millions of people can be displaced from
their homes after natural disasters. Displacement traditionally leads to
depression, social unrest, higher crime, and reduced economic activity, among
other social problems – all of which are often cyclical in nature.532

While temporary FEMA trailers have granted some relief in the U.S., these
shelters are only free to use for a limited time, and at $70,000 per unit, each costs

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several times as much to produce than a prefabricated living space of similar

size.533 Rather than using more expensive temporary FEMA trailers, we can now
deliver inexpensive prefabricated homes that can have integrated heat and hot
water, providing a comfortable, warm, and private space to displaced people in
both the U.S. and abroad.

For example, during the 2010 Haiti Earthquake and its aftermath, roughly 105,000
homes were destroyed and another 208,000 badly damaged.534 International
governments devoted millions of dollars to assist, with some $93 million going to
build some 2,600 homes – a cost of roughly $36,000 a house. Though
approximately $13 billion in total international aid was donated so that Haiti
could rebuild, much of the country today looks little different from how it did in
the immediate aftermath of the earthquake.535 Had we been able to purchase 2,600
prefabricated homes at $30,000 each, it would have cost $9.3 billion – meaning
that we’d have provided living spaces to replace every destroyed home with
another $3.7 billion to spare.

Low-income/fiscally reserved individuals. The average price for a single-family

home in the United States is nearly $300,000 – an obstacle for even the median
wage earner in this country.536 The millions of families who are forced to rent are
in an increasingly precarious financial situation, as rent prices have largely
increased in inflation-adjusted dollars over the past 30 years while median
income has not.537

Perhaps a family can’t afford to buy a house and are forced to rent at the expense
of their ability to save money or invest in something they own. Conversely,
perhaps a family wishes to purchase a modest home on a larger plot of land with
more cash on hand as opposed to a more expensive house with a heavier
mortgage. Prefabricated homes make either possible, allowing people to take
advantage of the value of home ownership at lower prices than are possible today.

People experiencing homelessness. There are currently an estimated 565,000

homeless people in the United States,538 and every year the Federal Government
spends approximately $4.5 billion on efforts to reduce that number.539 Assuming
a cost of $30,000 for a small prefabricated home, we could provide a comfortable
and private living space for every homeless person in this country for $19 billion.
Assuming $10,000 for a 650 square foot 3D-printed home, we could provide the
same for just $6.5 billion. That’s what the Federal government spends on

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preventing homelessness every 2-5 years. Also of note: that’s between 1-3% of the
annual defense budget.540

It’s worth mentioning that providing a private living space to get people off the
streets isn’t necessarily going to fix any underlying reasons for their
homelessness, as afflictions like drug addiction and mental illness are often
factors.541 But reaching the ability to extend the most vulnerable among us a place
to live and rebuild their lives is key to solving major social problems. The lowest
a person in the United States (and perhaps abroad) would thus be able to fall is a
private living space with heat, food and hot water – a historical first.

Being able to accomplish these goals in aggregate is a milestone of major

significance. It represents a massive leap in our societal advancement, and more
critically, it’s the final nail in the coffin of resource scarcity.

By combining the systems described in this and previous chapters, we would

have the means to synthetically produce everything we need to exist: electricity,
fuel, water, food, advanced building materials, and now shelter, and we would
have the means to produce them far less expensively than we can today.

Indefinitely sustainable production of the crucial resources and amenities our

civilization needs to function would be revolutionary, completely changing how
we relate to people within our neighborhoods, our nation and our planet.

Critically, this would allow us to reset our relationship to nature.

Since we evolved from hunter-gatherer tribes and started building societies, the
environment around us has paid the price. We have razed forests, destroyed
ecosystems and altered our planet’s climate. The rise of human civilization, in and
of itself, has been an extinction-level event. Universal Energy allows us to chart a
different course because it can provide every resource that we need to exist and
advance without relying on perpetually invasive extractive technologies. This
alone greatly reduces the damage we inflict on nature by decreasing our reliance
on what are essentially finite resources.

It’s true that technological advances might increase the extraction of certain
materials. But with superior recycling and manufacturing methods, this can be
minimized – and would ultimately pale in comparison to the other environmental
benefits we would see with Universal Energy. We would no longer need to cut

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down forests for building materials, extract finite sources of oil and gas for
energy, or devote swaths of land for farming. We would no longer need to deplete
natural water sources for drinking, industry, or agriculture. We would no longer
need to pollute our atmosphere or destroy waterways with toxic chemicals. Over
time, the Universal Energy framework would allow nature to return to its natural
state, and heal to a point before our hands scarred it.

And, this would remove the primary cause of human conflict.

For thousands of years, for thousands, we have butchered each other. Whether
by the sword, the arrow, the bullet or the bomb, we have exterminated our
brethren in every horrific manner we could think of. In this doing we have told
ourselves lies, and allowed ourselves to believe that we were justified in killing
and dying by the millions for causes that boiled down to nothing more than
resource scarcity and the pursuit of the money, power and economic might it
bestows on the winner of its zero-sum games. We have believed these lies and
lived with these horrors because we thought we had no other choice. And
whether near or far from the results of their manifestation, we have been
powerless to prevent it all from repeating for time eternal because we had no
means to truly change how the world worked.

Now, we do.

Technology can finally empower us to evolve beyond the zero-sum game of

resources. No matter how much energy, water, food or materials are consumed
by society, we can always generate more. With that, we can not only build
transformational things, but further transform the very means and tools with
which we build them – and change the world from the old model to the new.

Paradigm Shift

Universal Energy is first and foremost a framework, and its ultimate purpose is
to make a new model for our society. It doesn’t seek to use money to pay for social
programs that mitigate social problems. It instead seeks to use money to build
systems that make those problems irrelevant.

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10,000 years ago, making fire was a problem. Today, you use a lighter. 300 years
ago, transportation over distance was a problem. Today, you hop in a car, bus,
train, or plane. 100 years ago, communication was a problem. Today, a phone call
can reach any corner of the globe. Right now, today, energy and resources are a
problem. Through technology, they don’t have to be a problem tomorrow.

For millennia, resource scarcity has been central to human interaction, chaining
and binding us to its restrictions. With its bounds removed, we can focus the
entirety of our social strength towards transforming our civilization into
something unprecedented.

By dramatically lowering the costs of energy, resources, and materials while

improving the quality of life for everyone, costs fall, as does the amount of
resources that have to be devoted to addressing social afflictions. This frees up
collective funds that could be devoted to social advancement, and the same goes
for industry, which would have greatly increased capabilities to build ever-
greater accomplishments.

In a scarcity-free world, we would have unlimited potential to discover, create,

construct and achieve. That world, and the economy it would power, is a future
that we can begin building today.

And that, above all else, is a future worth having.

A future worth having. That is what we strove for once, and it’s something we
can strive for again. Yet in order to do so we must recapture the vision we once
lost, a vision we once cherished: the drive to build great and amazing things.
Minus the shiny new weapons systems that consume trillions of dollars decade
in, decade out, that collective drive has been forsaken.

The past six decades saw us build the interstate highway system, put a man on
the moon and invent GPS and the internet. We didn’t care about difficulty or
political opposition – we achieved those goals because we could and because they
proved to ourselves that we were worthy of rising to the occasion as both a people
and a species.

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Today, amidst the backdrop of our crumbling roads, collapsing bridges and aging
skyscrapers, we are living within a decaying testament to the greatness we once
sought and collectively built. And we’ve lowered ourselves to bickering, bitterly,
over ideological squabbles and petty partisanship about how we’re going to build
anything of actual societal value, for ourselves, for those who will come after, and
for those who once looked to us as models to follow.

That is not who we are, and that is not where we came from. We deserve a better
future than Ozymandias, and Universal Energy is how we may see it realized. We
can see it realized because the framework has a tertiary function that becomes
possible when we move past a finite-resource dynamic. Once we stop chasing our
tails and wasting untold blood and treasure in the name of resource dominance,
it allows us to devote our full strength as a civilization to advance ourselves even
further to a new stage of technological and humanitarian evolution – one that
ultimately sees us build a world we thought possible only in dreams.

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Whatever good things we build end up building us.

- Jim Rohn

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Chapter Twelve: Advanced

Infrastructure

Up until now, this writing has primarily focused on the technologies Universal
Energy proposes to solve resource scarcity. The reason for this is unambiguous:
resource scarcity is the core human malady. It’s the primary cause of large-scale
conflict, the major driver of environmental destruction and climate change, and
both the facilitator and accelerant of economic decline, poverty and state-level
enmity. Scarcity has been a determining factor in our existence since civilization
became civilization. It’s solution, therefore, is the central factor in determining our
evolution beyond the dynamic that’s limited us from that time-onward.

The question thus becomes: what happens once we reach that zenith?

Concretely, we’ll have a game-changing abundance of resources. Resources

sourced not only from next-generation and highly scalable technology, but also
from freeing up immense resources that were previously devoted to mitigating
the consequences of scarcity, both at home and abroad. Mainstays of state
spending will experience a paradigm shift: defense, security, finance, agriculture,
manufacturing, energy, healthcare, construction, communications, education and
beyond will all be forever changed by such abundance.

This cyclical effect has the potential to reshape our future and improve our quality
of life on a scale unrivaled. This goes beyond thinking bigger and building larger.
The very foundations of our civilization will be on a trajectory of collective ascent
to heights that were never before possible until we reached this threshold.

To put that statement in perspective, recall that humanity has existed for about
200,000 years, although some estimates say it’s as long as 300,000.542 For 95% of
that timeline, we were basically cavemen. If we characterize “actual” civilization
as the start of the Bronze Age, that period started only 5,000 years ago. From the
year 200,000 B.C.E. until the mid-1800s, the fastest a human could travel was on
horseback. Yet by the start of the 20th century we had the train, automobile and
aircraft, and we landed on the moon less than 70 years later. The light bulb,

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internet, cellphone, computer, skyscraper, satellite and spacecraft were all

invented in roughly the past 1/2,000th of our history.

We achieved each of these advances through technological ascension –

breakthroughs that empowered our species to rise higher in both capability and
knowledge – fundamentally expanding the extent of the latter through a greater
command of the former.

Universal Energy accelerates our rate of ascension by providing effectively

unlimited energy and resources in which to build practically anything to a
superior civilizational scale. In doing so, we are presented with unique potential
to advance our social infrastructure – especially within areas of civil engineering,
transportation and aerospace.

Civil Engineering

Social infrastructure – what we can build, how we build it and how long it lasts –
makes our society possible, and beyond that, makes it enduring and inspiring.
Universal Energy can revolutionize our recently-neglected social infrastructure to
great social benefit by allowing public works projects to complete faster, less
expensively and on larger scales.

You’ll recall that repairing the decaying infrastructure across our nation is
expected to cost several trillions of dollars with today’s methods – even in the
most conservative estimates.543 These are repairs that need to be made, yet we have
neither the earmarked funds nor the political willpower to pay for them.
However, as with energy and resources, technology provides an opportunity to
solve the problem for us by leapfrogging limitations cost-effectively.

How exactly? First, let’s cover some givens:

Most heavy machinery today is powered by diesel, which makes fuel a

considerable expense of any construction project.544 And while diesel engines
have legendary reliability, the pumps, belts, and hydraulics in heavy machinery
aren’t generally as dependable, which leads to delays and additional costs when
they eventually fail. Electric construction equipment on the other hand is
mechanically simpler, and as such can avoid many of these complications while

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delivering the same standard of performance as their diesel counterparts.545 As

prices for electricity drop with the implementation of Universal Energy, fuel
becomes less of a construction expense (all the more so once hydrogen becomes
more industrially viable).

Building materials also command significant percentages of construction

budgets.546 With Universal Energy, construction projects could source better
materials for lower prices. This would enable us to build lighter and stronger
structures with less expense than we can today; and as a structure’s maximum
size is limited largely by strength-to-weight ratios, these materials would also
increase the scale of what we are capable of building.

Once computer modelling, 3D printing, and factory prefabrication are added in,
however, is when we truly start building the future. These technologies have been
around for only the past decade, meaning that the majority of structures in our
society were built without the aid of computers, and anything built before the late
1970s didn’t even involve a calculator. Today, architectural software allows us to
design structures virtually on computers. This provides engineers with 3D
representations of what they’re constructing along with highly accurate
predictions of material requirements and limits of load and scale. The following
images, for example, respectively show a bridge being designed on a computer
and another being 3D printed in real time:

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Considering that many of these technologies are in their infancy with regards to
civil infrastructure, there is ample room for them to grow in the future.
Integrating improvements in material science, nigh-unlimited energy and
resources, and design-first principles of standardization and modularity only
stand to serve as accelerants. We previously saw how we can embrace these
advances to build houses, buildings and prefabricated systems, but this concept
applies to the manufacture of practically anything on a large scale.

If we can prefabricate jetliners and LFTRs, why not bridges, tunnels, apartment
buildings, and skyscrapers? Aerospace-grade engineering carries the highest
requirements for reliability in the world, and today we already can completely
assemble a flagship jetliner every nine business days – or 3D print sophisticated
components for the same in a matter of hours. A world powered by Universal
Energy grants us the means to raise the bar higher still.

Within civil engineering, examples include:

Next-generation roads, bridges and tunnels. Railroads and paved highways

rank among the greatest marvels of human engineering, revolutionizing travel,
transportation and commerce on global scales.

Yet in many ways, such infrastructure is only as useful as its ability to overcome
obstacles in the landscape, something made possible through bridges and tunnels

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– engineering accomplishments that we don’t often think about when impressive

structures come to mind. And yet:

• While not the longest bridge in the United States, at 4.8 miles the Chesapeake
Bay Bridge is one of the most important, as it connects Delaware and
Maryland’s Eastern Shore with the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area.
Roughly 25.6 million vehicles travel on it every year, each one saving time and
fuel that would be devoted to longer routes should the bridge not exist.547

How much time and fuel? Assuming each of these 25.6 million vehicles
traveled between Washington, DC and Dover, Delaware, they need drive only
93 miles for 1.8 hours if they use the bridge. If not, they would need to drive
134 miles for 2.75 hours via I-95.548 This means that over the past 10 years,
assuming consistent traffic and 21 miles per gallon fuel economy, the
Chesapeake Bay Bridge has collectively saved motorists a total of one billion
miles of driving distance, 224.3 million hours (2,776 years) of driving time,
and roughly 500 million gallons of fuel.

• The Colorado I-70 corridor splits the Rocky Mountains with a highway,
allowing motorists to avoid slow and often precarious mountain passes. The
corridor is made possible through the 1.7-mile-long Eisenhower-Johnson
tunnel, which was completed in 1979. It takes approximately four hours on I-
70 to travel the 235 miles from Denver to Grand Junction on opposite sides of
the Continental Divide. Without the corridor, it would take approximately 8.6
hours549 to travel the 432 miles via U.S. Route 40.550

To put those numbers in perspective, the highway and tunnel has saved each
vehicle 4.6 hours of driving time and a driving distance of 197 miles. As
roughly 13 million vehicles travel through the tunnel annually,551 we’ll
conservatively assume that from 1979 to 2018 a total of 400 million vehicles
have traveled this route to Grand Junction. At an assumed average fuel
economy of 21 miles per gallon, this tunnel system has collectively saved
drivers 79 billion miles of driving distance, 1.8 billion hours (210,000 years) of
driving time, and 3.7 billion gallons of fuel.

Under those assumptions, these two public works projects, alone, have
collectively saved motorists a total of 80 billion miles of driving distance, 213,000
years of driving time, and 4.2 billion gallons of fuel.

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Both the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and the Colorado I-70 corridor were built with
technology from the 1950s-1980s – a far cry from what we have available today,
which in itself is a far cry from the capabilities we would have with Universal
Energy. Under the framework, we would be able to increase the scale of our
bridges and tunnels – connecting places in ways that were never before possible.

Megabridges: as the name suggests, a megabridge is a bridge of large size and

scale. Built with the strongest materials available, a megabridge spans longer
distances and supports more lanes and thus heavier loads. They can also enable
travel of both road and rail, increasing diversity of use and overall social utility.

Megabridges have already made their debut on the world stage. The above
concept images respectively show the proposed Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link,552
connecting Germany and Denmark, and the Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed
Crossing megabridge in Dubai.553 The image below shows the recently completed
Zhuhai-Macau Megabridge connecting mainland China to the island of Macau:

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As impressive as they are, neither of these projects can yet utilize large-scale
factory prefabrication with next-generation synthetics, meaning they are
ultimately constructed ad-hoc with less advanced material options than would be
possible with Universal Energy. Future megabridges can avoid these constraints.
Imagine if construction crews didn’t need to pour concrete, lay cable, steamroll
asphalt or spot-weld junctions by hand, each and every time? What if they instead
could take prefabricated pylons, platforms, support arches and integrated
renewables, and assemble the entire bridge like a hobby kit, just on a larger scale?

This approach is not only possible,

it can be a hallmark of tomorrow’s
manufacturing capabilities. Such an
approach further allows architects
to expand their vision, as it reduces
several of the problems with
modern construction and material
sciences. As civil engineers can hash
out the technical details of a bridge
with ever-more sophisticated
software at the design stage, it could
be rapidly determined what it would take to enlarge the bridge to greater scales
of size, should the materials and manufacturing methods be present. Such efforts
could lead to a day where bridges eight to twelve lanes wide with lengths
upwards of 100 miles or more enter the realm of possibility.
That is the future made possible by effectively unlimited energy and resources.

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Megatunnels: the megatunnel is the evolution of subterranean / underwater

transportation structures. Of the megatunnels in existence or in planning stages
today, perhaps the best examples are the 30-mile Channel rail tunnel connecting
England to France, the 33-mile Seikan tunnel connecting the Japanese islands of
Honshu and Hokkaido, and the 35-mile Gotthard Base Tunnel under the Alps.554

Gotthard Base Tunnel

These tunnels are rightfully considered among mankind’s most impressive

accomplishments. But challenges remain to increasing their scale, especially in the
context of submerged tunnels. There are unique complications to building
submerged tunnels that are not present with bridges, namely the presence of
extreme water pressure.

Building a submerged tunnel between England and France, for instance, is

possible today, as the depth of the English Channel doesn’t exceed 150 feet.555 Yet
building a submerged tunnel from, say, Tokyo to Beijing, or London to New York,
is far more difficult. When water depths reach thousands of feet, pressures are so
great that hardened steel structures can crumple like paper bags. The material
advances made possible by Universal Energy allow us to significantly extend our
capabilities to build structures that can withstand such pressures. They also allow

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us to reach an even more achievable goal of floating megatunnels that would

serve the same effect as deep water variants in function.

Through a combination of buoyancy control mechanisms and cables/weights

tethering tunnels to the ocean floor, these tunnels would stay close to above-water
atmospheric pressures to avoid complications with structural integrity or surface
breaches in the case of emergencies: 556 Two concepts shown below:

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As a structure’s weight displacement is different when submerged as opposed to

on land, the buoyancy of these tunnels can be calibrated to maintain high degrees
of stability – strong enough to support vehicle and even high-speed rail travel.
Norway is already considering building submerged tunnels to cross fjords, a
model that could be applied to more ambitious projects over larger bodies of
water as our technology improved.557 Universal Energy-underwritten energy cost
and material advancements bring this possibility closer to reality.

Luminal communication networks. While perhaps not to grandiose scales in

physical terms, the information networks we have built over the past three
decades rank among the most advanced infrastructure in history.558 In the United
States, however, these networks are becoming ever-more dated. While corporate
monopolies and broken politics certainly don’t help,559 the primary problem is one
of distance. The vastness of the United States presents challenges to providing
high-speed internet nationwide at low cost – costs that have to be paid over and
over again once outdated technology needs to be updated.

As we saw throughout much of this writing, municipally integrated renewables

and the National Aqueduct provide ample opportunity to run utility lines,
including those for communication. This gives us a natural platform to run
internet cables over any distance effectively, as their generated electricity could
power amplification systems to prevent signal loss. And instead of traditional
cables that transfer data through copper wires, we can now install fiber-optic
cables that are 30-100 times faster.560

If internet service were embedded throughout renewable-integrated highway

networks and the National Aqueduct, we’d effectively turn the country into a
giant antenna. This process further becomes more cost-effective, because running
fiber cables through above-ground conduits is far easier and less expensive than
today’s method of running cables underground. If municipal internet were
provided through road networks and the National Aqueduct, we would
effectively have nationwide wireless internet, low in cost an expansive in scale –
cementing a next-generation information backbone for everyone in society.

Prefabricated buildings. We’ve thus far talked at length about the concepts of
prefabrication and 3D printing, with attention to how we can use them to build
advanced systems quicker, better, and with less expense. Megatunnels and
megabridges are good examples of how we can apply these concepts to larger-
scale infrastructure, but there are also other promising applications – such as

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extending residential prefabrication beyond what we saw last chapter. The

following three images show the “One9,” a nine-story prefabricated apartment
building in Melbourne, Australia that was installed in just five days.561

This apartment complex in Kansas City features 80 modular units that was finish-
assembled on-site within four months:562

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For comparison, the average time to construct a single-family home in the United
States is between 6-11 months, once a building permit is issued.563 Prefabricated
structures such as these are attractive options for reducing housing shortages, a
problem that is expected to increase as large numbers of people continue to
migrate to cities.564

Prefabrication also works on even larger scales. We saw in Chapter Eleven how
China’s Broad Sustainable Buildings corporation assembled a 30-story tower in
15 days. But that’s only a pioneering example of the potential of prefabricated
structures. The company has since outdone themselves by building a 57-story
skyscraper in nineteen days, which, at three stories per day, is 33% faster than
their previous performance. Named “J57 Mini Sky City,” the structure is one of
the tallest modular buildings in the world.

For a time-lapse video, YouTube “How to build a 57 floor building in 19 days.”

Back in the United States, Skanska, a Swedish construction company, has recently
completed “461 Dean,” a 363-unit apartment building in downtown Brooklyn.
The 32-story building, completed in approximately 18 months, saved 20% on
construction costs when compared to traditional building methods.565

These cost savings are then passed on to prospective tenants, as the studio units
in this building start at $560/month in a neighborhood where the median rent is
roughly $2,700.566

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When we consider the reduced costs and shorter construction timelines on these
buildings, it’s important to be mindful that they represent the first variants of this
emerging technology. Further, these feats of engineering are also performed with
today’s technology and material limitations. If we think about how far we've
come in other areas over just the last 20-30 years, there's no telling how much
more advanced this type of construction can become in the future – especially if
the advances of Universal Energy were incorporated.

Supercities

Prefabricated, standardized, and modular construction has incredible potential to

revolutionize how we build things, allowing us to raise structures far larger and
far faster than we can today. When taken with the other advancements of
Universal Energy, this stands to transform humanity’s approach to cities, and
how we live in them.

As cities have evolved, they have expanded in population and sprawl, drawing
in people by the billions to their economies, amenities and culture. Modern
technological advancements in infrastructure, however, didn’t exist until the

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early-to mid-1900s, even in affluent areas. Today, even the most modest city
dwellings have amenities such as running water, plumbing and electricity, as well
as means of transportation and communication that would have been
unthinkable for the past 99.99% of human existence. Further advances in
technology can take us to an even higher stage of city living: “supercities.”

Conceptually, a supercity is an urban center that provides residents with an

unprecedented quality of life by leveraging next-generation technical capability.
As it has no fixed definition within our lexicon, we’ll define a supercity as having
the following six criteria:

1. Population: a supercity has a total population of 10 million or greater, or the

ability to readily scale to support that population. This is the only requirement
a supercity shares with a “megacity,” presently defined only by having a
population of greater than 10 million people.567

2. Energy and resources: although integrated with external power grids and
resource production systems, a supercity is able to produce the majority of its
energy and resources through municipally integrated renewable
infrastructure, supplemented by external LFTRs or CHP Plants.

3. Utilities as public provisions: taking advantage of inexpensive energy and

simplified installation of utilities through renewable-integrated
infrastructure, a supercity provides electricity, water, heat, and high-speed
internet as publicly funded municipal services.

4. Advanced construction: building new structures and upgrading existing

ones are top priorities for supercities. Buildings, bridges, and tunnels are
rapidly constructed using prefabricated, modular methods with high energy
efficiencies, and are further integrated with renewable technologies.
Supercities, therefore, have a high percentage of new, modern buildings and
infrastructure.

5. Transportation: a supercity features advanced transportation technologies,

such as maglev rail and autonomous vehicles. These are discussed in the next
section of this chapter.

6. High quality of life: a supercity provides excellent education, healthcare,

employment and recreation at low cost with a high quality of life index.568

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Life in a supercity would stand in stark contrast with today’s urban

environments, where most areas range in quality from fantastic to poor, usually
with good to mediocre mixed somewhere in between. But polarized distribution
of wealth becomes less of a social malady if all necessities of life can be
inexpensively provided through technology.569 Higher-quality amenities would
become more affordable, enabling everyone to increase their quality of life
without necessarily having to spend more money. Essentially, Universal Energy
would allow things to be built to the quality of the fantastic at the cost of the
modest. This capability supports businesses, venues, attractions, and thus jobs –
allowing any given area of a city to thrive, and in turn, advance.

As a result, everyone is afforded a greater sense of community, which translates

to reduced crime and a collectively greater life experience. Utilizing this approach
in all areas of a given city raises the floor and in turn enables a city to devote greater
amounts of resources to continually advance, improve and evolve.

Supercities are closer to reality than one might think. Cities have been rapidly
developing over the past 100 years, and tomorrow’s technology is only going to
accelerate that pace. For example, take a look at the New York City skyline over
the past century, starting from 1914:

1914

1948

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2014

In this 100-year period – a blink of an eye in historical terms – we see that the New
York City skyline has grown immensely in both scale and sophistication. With the
technical breakthroughs Universal Energy provides, we can advance urban
construction at proportionally reduced costs. As Universal Energy would enable
us to prefabricate and rapidly construct effectively any type of urban
infrastructure, we can grow cities to scales that are not yet possible today.

The question now becomes: what does the skyline of New York City, or any, look
in a world powered by a dynamic of effectively unlimited energy and resources,
20, 50, or even 100 years from now? Futuristic concepts notwithstanding, they
nonetheless represent the potential futures made possible by the advanced
technology on our near-term horizon.

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This is especially important because as humanity’s population is rapidly

expanding, billions of people are expected to flock to cities within the next few
decades.570 For reference, roughly half of the planet lives in cities today. By 2050,
that number is expected to exceed 70%.571 Such environments must be able to
scale in size in order to accommodate this shift, and supercities can do so while
also supporting internal energy and resource production, advanced systems of
transportation and rapid construction of social infrastructure.

Next-Generation Transportation

Until the invention of steam power, the only options for moving people or goods
over distance were either horses or sailboats. Today, we have cars, trains, and
planes that can carry us thousands of miles across the planet, some in a matter of
hours – advances that are fewer than 100 years old. Future improvements in
technology will make the world even more accessible, saying nothing of what lies
beyond our terrestrial home.

One of the first of such improvements is already here: the production of vehicles
and mass-transit systems that run on sustainable fuels, which Universal Energy
helps extend through electricity, hydrogen and graphene. But in a world with
nigh-unlimited energy, sustainable resources, advanced manufacturing methods,
and synthetic materials that are both lightweight and ultra-strong, the
possibilities multiply to the limit of imagination. Some notable standouts include:

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Ultra-efficient, self-driving vehicles. The past decade has made substantial

headway with autonomous vehicles that are able to drive themselves without any
human interaction. They work via arrays of sensors and short-range laser-enabled
radar (LIDAR) that instantly relays data – like road direction, location of other
vehicles, obstructions, and weather conditions – to the vehicle’s computer, which
handles the actual driving and steering.

As this data is processed instantaneously, the vehicle reacts instantaneously as

well – much faster than human reaction times. Autonomous vehicles are then
exceptionally safe, especially since they are programmed to follow speed limits
and obey the rules of the road.

One of the most extensive autonomous vehicle programs in the nation is run by
Google (“Waymo”), although Tesla, Audi, Uber and several other car
manufacturers have made significant investments in driverless technology.572
Google’s program has completed over 700,000 autonomous-driving miles with 12
separate vehicles, with only one safety incident that was caused by human
error.573 Uber’s model has been slightly less successful, with one fatality deemed
unavoidable due to a lone pedestrian jaywalking.574 To compare this safety record
with human drivers in the United States: 268 million vehicles annually drive 3.17
trillion miles per year575 and are involved in roughly 10 million accidents,
averaging to one accident per every 26.8 vehicles or every 317,000 miles driven.576

In comparison, the safety record of autonomous vehicles is a dramatic

improvement. The implications of this achievement are especially important
because the 10+ million auto accidents occurring annually claim the lives of
roughly 33,000 people and injure some two million others.

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While safety is the most important factor when considering the benefits of self-
driving cars, it’s not the exclusive selling point:

• As all speed limits and road rules are obeyed by vehicle software, self-
driving cars are highly efficient, as they can maintain a uniform speed
without having to constantly accelerate or decelerate in reaction to other
vehicles (assuming all others on the road are also autonomous). This
ultimately reduces traffic congestion.

• Of the 33,000 road fatalities every year, nearly a third of them come from
drunk drivers; presumably the same is true of the 2.6 million injuries that
occur annually as well.577 Self-driving cars make this problem go away
effectively overnight.

This is merely the state of current technology. If Universal Energy’s

advancements are applied, our capabilities increase accordingly. For example,
instead of just having self-driving vehicles track road surfaces through internal

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sensors, they can also use the built-in Wi-Fi of renewable-integrated road surfaces
to navigate, providing system redundancy and security. As such vehicles would
increasingly be electric, they could also be charged on roads through wireless
emitters embedded within municipal infrastructure. In the increasingly unlikely
event of an accident, emergency crews could be instantly notified with automated
reports of the extent of the damage and the number of passengers injured.

Large-scale ground transportation. The most effective way to transport goods or

people over ground is rail, and the latest versions are known as “maglev” – short
for electromagnetic levitation.578 While much of the developed world has already
employed this technology, America is far behind. There are several reasons for
this state of affairs: the petroleum lobby, the geographical size of the United
States, the extent of personal vehicle ownership, and the expansiveness of the
interstate highway system.579 But it’s time for America to embrace the future, and
when it comes to large-scale transportation, maglev rail is the future.

As maglev propulsion is nearly frictionless, maglev trains can travel at speeds

exceeding 300 miles per hour (482 kilometers per hour). With Universal Energy,
building prefabricated, modular train cars and track systems becomes more
straightforward. This can enable us to build trains near renewable-integrated
roads or the National Aqueduct – creating an insulated mass transit system with
constant connectivity to power sources. And if these trains were built on
prefabricated pylons next to highways, it would also remove the need to purchase
additional land for their construction, further reducing costs.

Providing improved nationwide rail networks that can transport people or goods
at 300 miles per hour is a four-fold improvement over most domestic rail
technology. The implications this presents for trade, transport and tourism stand
to return extensive economic benefits, all the more so if considering the new job
opportunities opened by America gleaning expertise in this market sector.

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Yet even though such speeds are impressive for a train, maglev technology can
theoretically propel trains much faster. The biggest obstacle to doing so is air
resistance, which at high speed becomes especially significant for safe operation.
A new system called the Hyperloop can enable us to change that.

Hyperloop. Originally envisioned by PayPal, Space X, and Tesla founder Elon

Musk, the Hyperloop is a theoretical extension of the tubular transport systems
used in banks, where a capsule rides a wave of air inside a tube from one location
to another. With the Hyperloop, instead of transporting a capsule it would instead
transport a train, integrating maglev technology for high-speed travel.580

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As with submerged megatunnels, the Hyperloop would operate in a partially

depressurized environment. Mounting a high-strength air compressor at the front
of the train would remove forward-facing air resistance and, at the same time,
provide a frictionless air cushion around the train body.581 Reduced air pressure
translates to reduced air resistance, permitting the Hyperloop to travel at far
higher speeds than currently possible, with reduced effects of breaching the
sound barrier due to a lack of air density.

Conceptual image of a hyperloop station:

The Hyperloop concept is envisioned to be prefabricated and built on pylons by

design. Connecting Hyperloop technology with integrated renewables or the
National Aqueduct would also provide constant power the system as a whole,
which, if built with advanced synthetics, would be stronger and lighter than most
commercially available materials today.

The Hyperloop has already started construction and has demonstrated initial
successes in early tests and national competitions.582 Several companies have since
emerged to build functional models in Dubai, California and Europe .583 A world
with nigh-unlimited energy and resources alongside easy, sustainable access to
high-performance materials only stands to accelerate the development of next-
generation technologies and their arrival to market – presenting yet another
transformational addition to capabilities of human movement.

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Personal Flight. The price of passenger vehicles has steadily dropped over time,
making them affordable to most Americans. Airplanes, however, remain
unaffordable to a majority of people, even though they’ve been around nearly as
long. For a few thousand dollars, you can get a working, used car. The cheapest
used aircraft starts at ten times that, given that the mechanical tolerances for
aerospace are more stringent than for land-based cars, and the demand for small
aircraft is substantially less.

Further, private aircraft have not enjoyed most of the safety advances seen in
motor vehicles. Life-saving features such as airbags and crumple zones are rare,
and only a select few planes feature roll cages and emergency parachutes.584 As
most private planes have forward-mounted engines, the lightweight fuselage
(skeletal structure) of the aircraft often lacks the structural integrity to prevent the
engine from crushing the occupants upon forward impact. The survivability of a
crash, therefore, becomes a dubious prospect in many cases – the safety measure,
by and large, is to not crash in the first place.

There are debatable causes to this slower progress of innovation in aviation, but
what’s certain is that circumstances are changing. Some of these changes involve
the greater inclusion of common-sense safety features into light aircraft.585 Yet
other companies have embraced advances in technology that allow flying craft to
be redesigned from the ground-up. Some of these are already seen today in the
form of quadcopter drones.

As opposed to helicopters that use two or four blades on a single rotor,

quadcopters have four rotors on opposite and balanced points, thus removing the
need for a stabilizing tail rotor. This makes quadcopters extremely well balanced,
which in turn makes them both more maneuverable and easier to fly than
traditional aircraft.

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The concept of a quadcopter large enough to carry people (if only for short
distances) has already been proven to work with today’s materials. The SureFly
personal flying vehicle is one example of quadcopter innovation reaching
commercial viability.

The Scorpion-3 hoverbike is another recently developed prototype:

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These images below show the Ehang 184 personal quadcopter:

While such quadcopters are possible with today’s technology limitations, their
capabilities can be extended via graphene’s capacity for structural strength and
energy storage. As discussed throughout this writing, graphene is an ultra-strong,
ultra-light, and ultra-conductive material that Universal Energy can cost-
effectively synthesize to effectively unlimited scales.

With it, not only can we store the requisite energy to power a large quadcopter
with minimal added weight, we can also integrate the storage medium into the
fuselage while ensuring uniformly high strength. This would make quadcopters
light and large enough to transport both people and materials.

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After tackling energy storage and weight capacity, the next obstacle to building a
large quadcopter is a design that makes the quadcopter cost effective enough to
work for transportation – ideally in a way that can both fly and drive.

While we don’t have a human-sized solution yet, smaller-scale models have been
recently released that demonstrably prove the concept as workable.

Approximately two feet long and made with the same polycarbonate materials
comprising bullet-resistant glass, this vehicle can drive over obstacles at speeds
exceeding 20 miles per hour and engage flight rotors at a push of a button.586

While there are of course obstacles to scaling a smaller prototype to the size of a
vehicle large enough to transport people or cargo, they are absolutely solvable as
they center on areas that Universal Energy gives us the means to address:

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1. Ultra-strong, lightweight materials at acceptable cost – made possible

through graphene and next-generation synthetics.

2. Lightweight energy storage mediums – made possible through a

graphene-interwoven polymer/polycarbonate fuselage.

3. Manufacturing capability – made possible through next-generation

additive / 3D-printing, virtual modeling and precision automation.

The actual flight of any such vehicle would be as simple as driving a car. Large
quadcopters of 50 pounds or more are already being flown long distances using
two joysticks and a first-person video screen – far less than the array of functions
necessary to fly a helicopter or airplane. Any serious production of flying vehicles
would of course carry more options, safety features and
regulatory controls, but those are not obstructions to
their delivery. It’s also true that certain automobile
drivers might not demonstrate the requisite proficiency
to pilot flying vehicles. Besides the application of
automated flight controls, these concerns can be
addressed through more lengthy training and more
stringent licensing requirements. Fundamentally, these
aren’t details of potential capability. They’re details of
process, that and only.

It’s difficult to overstate how much this could improve how we live and move.
The overland distance between destinations “as the crow flies” is always shorter
than the meandering roads we have to take today, and that shorter distance can
significantly decrease the response time of emergency crews, help deliver rapid
aid to areas without road access, and, in the case of drone-sized quadcopters, even
deliver consumer goods on-demand.587

We are only one technological step away from having personal flying vehicles
that are safe, strong and easily flown. Vehicles that can use autopilot programs
that already fly and land commercial aircraft today.588 Vehicles that, like the
autonomous cars before them, can be charged via wireless power over
municipally integrated renewables and through designated relays – potentially
enabling effectively indefinite flight.589

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Many of us spent our childhoods dreaming of the day when we would see flying
cars. The technical capabilities that can be at our fingertips tomorrow make this
dream possible, along with all others that have allowed this writing to portray a
vision for a future brighter than the one we face today.

The areas it places focus, like many of the possibilities opened up by Universal
Energy, are simply the beginning. We can extend these advancements to anything
we can imagine, from our day-to-day lives, to cutting-edge aerospace that can
revolutionize not just travel within our world, but well and far beyond it.590

This is the nature of advanced infrastructure as this writing refers to it, and the
realization of the future it brings is now at our command. We now have the tools
to make this – all of this – real. To manifest a reality where we can provide the
abundance, advancement, achievement and ascension we told ourselves was the
path we were destined to walk. We now have the means to build such as a world
as a testament to the choices we made in its furtherance, and the promises we
made to those who came before who brought us to this singular threshold, where
it could be transcended, at long last, by our own hand.

A future worth having. The start of something new. And the next giant leap.

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“There are no passengers on Spaceship Earth. Only crew.”

- Marshall McLuhan

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The Next Giant Leap

Universal Energy is a framework designed to solve core human problems. Its
intent is to provide blueprints for a system that can permanently address the
maladies that have plagued our species since the dawn of time; software to
support the foundations of the human condition. Further, it is intended to allow
– as I believe it to be true – the best parts of our nature to flourish in a world where
their absence has caused no shortage of rue and woe. But as a writing, The Next
Giant Leap is intended to provoke thought and the consideration of ideas. It’s
meant to be a conduit for a conversation among ourselves about how we might
evolve the hindrances of our existence, and build, truly, a better world.

To build a better world.

I have rewritten this chapter many times. Yet each instance I read those words I
must admit I become pained in a way that is profound. That such a conversation
needs to happen in the first place is, on its face, a travesty of potential and an
abdication of promise. It was fifty-one years ago, nearly to the day these words
were written, where mankind took its first giant leap and set foot upon our lunar
surface. It was a moment that reflected the culmination of unquantifiable sacrifice,
and immeasurable investment, into our ability to accomplish the impossible.
200,000 years of human evolution and the lives of billions converged at a single
moment in time – and we leapt forward.

That was the hope our future was meant to be built on. That was the light by
which we were meant to find our way.

Now in the decades hence, where the problems of our time command headlines
of newspapers instead of chapters of history books, I am haunted by a deeply
lonely and desolate sense of shame to think this future might be forsaken. That
for all of the nameless sacrifices people made throughout history, the future they
died for would nonetheless yield to a world where billions of others wallow in
needless, purposeless suffering. Where our ecological home is dying. Where the
possibility of nuclear extinction is an everyday fact of life. Where we are
dominated, again, and again, and again, by the petty conflicts that for millennia
have devoured the brightest elements of human potential.

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Yet even in the face of these circumstances, I refuse – to my core biological basis
– to grant them surrender. Because our future is not yet forsaken. Because that
light has not yet left us. I believe it is still a guiding beacon, waiting to be once
again embraced as torches in our hearts, small as they may be against the shadows
of our time – yet together bright enough to beat the darkness. And with the tools
that can today be in our hands, I believe sincerely through every fiber of my soul
and being that we can accomplish exactly that, once and for all.

Because “the way things are” and “the way the world works” are not reflections
of incontrovertible destiny. They’re forces of circumstance, reflections of an old
model that, for all its faults, got us this far – yet is now too broken to carry us
further. We now require a new model, one that upgrades our existential
framework on a civilizational scale. A task that, at the pinnacle of our
technological prowess, is now at last possible.

It only takes our choice, like those who came before, to make that leap.

Thus, I am now speaking to you – as one person to another – in perhaps the only
opportunity I can in such a context to tell you that there is still a way to fix this. We
can still build a future where we can strive for higher aspirations and retire each
evening feeling legitimately hopeful for the days ahead. To hold belief that we
can embrace our full potential as a people and reach a harmonious plane of
existence with our environment, with our planet, and, most of all, with each other.

These aspirations are not “lofty,” nor are such appeals evocative of flowery
rhetoric or emotional cliché. They are core perspectives. If there is meaning to
this life, if life is precious and worth cherishing, worth empowering and worth
saving, then there is no greater goal we should have for ourselves. There should
be nothing more important that we would see achieved. This is the foundation of
existence. And by engaging these newfound capabilities at this critical time, we
can evolve the fundamental structures on which that foundation stands.

This mindset encapsulates an expansion of perspective that our nationalist,

tribalist tendencies might consider unrealistic – cynically ignoring that the blood
spilled and resources wasted by their tenets may, in fact, have been better
invested in causes other than our own destruction, or annihilation. This mindset
looks beyond that, into something greater and something deeper.

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In 1964, a Soviet astronomer named Nikolai Kardashev postulated the idea of

civilizational “tiers” – quantifiable metrics of how objectively advanced a
civilization has become or could become in the future – based on the perspective
of a sentient, carbon-based biological lifeform.591 Known as the “Kardashev” scale,
his model had three tiers:

Type I: A civilization that sources its energy and resources from its planet.
Type II: A civilization that sources its energy and resource from its star.
Type III: A civilization that sources its energy and resources from its galaxy.

Other scientific philosophers, Carl Sagan, Michio Kaku, John Barrow – and
several others592 – have made their own models using their own insight and
expertise.593 Even if I had the intellect or standing to disagree with any of them, I
don’t. Yet deep within my mind is another tiered model, one that has influenced
my worldview and perspective starkly throughout my life. It’s not much different
than others like it, but it is a reflection of who I believe we are, what I believe we
are capable of, and what I believe we can become – should we so choose.

The Ten Tiers of Civilization

Tier 1: Fire and Stone: control of fire and the ability to craft stone tools,
subsisting exclusively on a hunter-gatherer diet.
This tier represents approximately 95% of human history.

Tier 2: Agricultural: the ability to grow crops and raise livestock, accelerating
population growth. Social hierarchies and customs form, and the possibility of
organized conflict becomes a fixture of life. Humanity reached this tier during
the Neolithic Revolution, around 10,000 B.C.E

Tier 3: Pre-industrial: command of simple metallurgy with a basic

understanding of math, science and astrology. Written language and laws are
established, as are formal relations between governing regions. This tier was
reached at the founding of Sumer in ancient Mesopotamia, roughly 4,000 B.C.E

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Tier 4: Industrial: complex self-powered machines are invented, including

mechanized assembly and transportation systems. Economic trade becomes
globalized and conflict carries consequences of increased severity. We reached
this tier during the Industrial Revolution, approximately 1760.

Tier 5: Atomic: civilization discovers atomic energy and has the ability to build
large-scale infrastructure. Population grows exponentially. Potential for
resource conflict increases, as does the potential for mass destruction. We
reached this tier on 16 July, 1945 when the first atomic bomb was detonated.

Tier 6: Orbital: civilization can defy gravity and even orbit. Electronics and
globalized communications emerge. Transportation over terrestrial distances
becomes trivial. Population continues to grow exponentially. Potential for
resource conflict is extreme, which for the first time can potentially be an
extinction-level event due to nuclear arsenals and global delivery mechanisms.
We reached this tier on 4 October, 1957 at the launch of the first satellite.
This is the tier we are in now.

Tier 7: Ascendant: civilization has developed technology capable of

synthesizing unlimited energy, resources and materials, thus ending resource
scarcity and resource conflict. Maslow’s needs are met,594 addressing most social
problems and stabilizing population growth. In turn, civilization is able to
devote the entirety of its resources to collective social advancement with ever-
more sophisticated infrastructure. This is the tier Universal Energy bring us to.

Tier 8: Transcendent: civilization has crossed the biological threshold and is

able to store and transport consciousness outside of a physical body
(sophisticated brain to computer interface). Complex artificial intelligence exists
and both biomass and bionic structures can be synthesized effectively, leading
to the possibility of synergy between organic and synthetic life.

Tier 9: Interstellar: civilization has reached the mastery of planetary existence

and becomes capable of inhabiting other planets. Intersolar and interstellar
transportation is invented, as is greater command of nanoengineering.

Tier 10: Intergalactic: A hypothetical Tier 10 civilization is capable of

intergalactic space travel and can artificially create habitable worlds. It would
furthermore command a comprehensive knowledge of universal physics, both
on micro and macro scales.

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In this model, we first and foremost see that humankind has ascended at an
accelerating rate. It took us ~190,000 years to go from Tier 1 to Tier 2, yet only
12,000 years to go from Tier 2 to Tier 6 – the tier we remain in presently. And
while this is an impressive reflection of our capabilities, we’ve only come far
enough to be forced to take another leap, for a critical attribute of our tier is that
it’s inherently precarious.

Due to exponential population growth and the environmental changes

and resource scarcities that come with it, a civilization can only stay in this tier for
a limited time. It either ascends, or it falls to resource conflict and/or ecological
collapse, which in the nuclear age carries extinction-level consequences.

It’s a reality that pays homage to “The Great Filter,” which is a derivative
consideration of “The Fermi Paradox” – an essential philosophical question when
discussing our seemingly isolated existence within the vast cosmos our planet
calls home.

Postulated by the great physicist Enrico Fermi in the 1950’s, the question can be
succinctly paraphrased as the following:

How can our universe, in all its unimaginable vastness, present such an immense
likelihood for sentient life, yet at the same time we can’t seem to find it?

I’ll frame this another way to help clarify:

Our planet, Earth, orbits our Sun along with seven other planets, comprising our
solar system. It is only one out of roughly 100 billion solar systems in our galaxy,
the Milky Way.595 Our galaxy, itself, is only one out of some two trillion galaxies in
our observable universe by the last known estimate.596

In another way of saying, if we were to take every person alive today and send
them each to a unique galaxy, we’d only be able to visit about 0.37% of them. As
each galaxy has hundreds of billions of stars and there are trillions of galaxies, it
makes the odds of Earth being the only planet to support life in the cosmos to be
nigh impossibly low.

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Presently, astronomers estimate that our universe contains at least a septillion

stars (that’s 24 zeros).597 At this scale, if even only one out of one million stars had
orbiting planets that sustained life, it would still leave ten quintillion planets that
did (10,000,000,000,000,000,000). That’s ten million individual groups of one trillion
planets. Think about that for a second.

It’s so impossibly unlikely that we’re alone, yet at the same time, we haven’t heard
from another lifeform beyond our planet that we know of.

“The Great Filter” is a proposed answer to this paradox, theorizing that all
intelligent life faces a threshold it must cross for it to ascend beyond its planet and
survive for the long term. That in order to truly advance as a species, it must
overcome a series of obstacles which would otherwise stop its ascent – or be the
harbinger of its destruction.

Consider it another way, if you will:

If all of Earth’s history were reduced to the scale of one year, humanity did not
emerge until 11:55PM on New Year’s Eve. We only reached the modern era at
about 10 seconds to midnight. By 7 seconds to midnight, we had invented the
means to cause our own extinction. By 5 seconds to midnight, we will have run
out of the resources that sustains our rapidly expanding population. And if our
dynamic remains unchanged, it will destroy us before the clock strikes twelve.

That is “The Great Filter.” It is something that we are facing right now, today.
And it is our generation, our time, that is tasked with passing this gauntlet of
unforgiving truth.

Yet it’s a reality that makes us brethren against the forces, natural as they may
well be, which would otherwise erase what we have built and accomplished. That
would extinguish the stories of who we are and who we could become, casting
the ashes of the aggregate into a void where the culmination of our memory is to
be forgotten. For this reason, this writing has conveyed a sense of touch in
language that appeals to the power you bring to bear as a person, in hopes that it
would inspire your choice of action towards building a better world and a
brighter future.

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I believe there is an ether in this world that embraces our sense of soul and what
it means to be human. An ether that connects us on a core wavelength, where we
all wish the best for ourselves and for others, and ascribe value to our sense of
collective meaning and shared purpose. We find it, in moments, at high points in
our lives and seek it still maybe through churches and community organizations,
as acolytes of sports teams, countercultures or ideological tribes; striving for
warmth and affirmation through what strings of connection we can grasp and
hold close. Yet another torch in our hearts, perhaps, one that keeps the cold and
loneliness at bay.

This ether is not esoteric. It’s not something that can be made, bought or bartered
for – it’s been within us all along, an aspect of the human condition that we can
engage in ourselves and others should we be willing; that like love, friendship,
respect and honor is a conduit for connection, for inspiration, for belonging. It
does not come from acquisition. It comes from choice.

The best parts of ourselves are made possible because we choose them. We choose
to be better, to give, build, create and forgive, just as we choose to hate, steal,
forsake and destroy. While perhaps inclined towards one aspect or another by
our natural dispositions, we are ultimately manifestations of our choices – defined
one way or another by the actions we take, the ethers we embrace, and the natures
we feed.

The world that we live in, therefore, is a collective reflection of those choices –
even if we didn’t realize that we made them, or that those who came before us
made them, or those who came before them still. The world we wake up in
tomorrow, accordingly, will reflect the same. But uniquely in our context is an
unprecedented capability to expand the impact of our choices and the scope of
options we have available. And of them, the most vital is the neutralization of the
concept of need.

Human nature is commonly described in dualities: binary opposites that interact

together as dichotomies of circumstance, character or choice. Rich versus poor.
Success versus failure. Strong versus week. Good versus evil. Us versus them.

Such dualities define both ancient and modern frameworks of theology, law,
nationalism, decorum, ideology – even technology, itself made possible by the
application of binary numbers, 0 and 1, processed through transistors on a
massive scale. When applied to the realities of our nature, each of these dualities

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have abstract merit in our world past, present and future. Yet none of them truly
identify the core dichotomy of the human condition. Our world is not bound by
good versus evil, or right versus wrong, or strong versus weak. It’s bound by
supply versus need.

On any scale, (especially national), need and scarcity – in either perception or

reality, can be attributable to the cause of most any conflict, social fracturing,
environmental pillaging, or lust for greed, power or oppression. I studied war
crimes in university. To this day, it still haunts my dreams. What we have done
to one another, what horrors we can justify, what choices we can accept and what
abominations we can call weapons make any other logical reason incapable of
defining the forces directing and binding collective human action. The horrors of
such actions aren’t reflective of how far we will go, they’re reflective of how far
we won’t go – limits that evaporate and emerge expanded, pushed time again by
the merciless realities of scarcity-driven need.

While its presence is undoubtable and at times unyielding, we as a people too

frequently make the mistake of attributing to malice that which can be attributed
to need because it’s easier – a simple designation of “evil” that avoids us having
to look inward to what drives our adversaries in any given context. Outside of
the subjective application of moral relativism or revisionist history, it’s much
harder to see “them” as human and their needs as logical, to them – even if we
are the target of their antagonism as we perceive it. It’s harder still to realize that
most people, even in times of strife, are not acting out of wickedness or cruelty
but are rather doing what they think they need to do in the context of what they
perceive their needs to be – even if their actions manifest respectively as such. It’s
simply our uncompromising reality as pawns of a zero-sum game.

Need is the driving adversary of the human condition; the core malady that has
continually held us back as a species since the dawn of time, and has kept us
fighting amongst each other instead of enabling us to realize that we can reach
our true potential, and a new plateau, should we enact the means to make the
concept of need irrelevant. Today, we now possess those means, and we can
choose to wield them for that end – to defeat our ancient adversary with finality,
and build a better world upon its ruin.

And to make that choice is what would I ask of you now.

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It may not be easy, yet it’s incumbent on us to shake off the apathy and
despondence our time has given us cause to adopt, and to embrace the better parts
of ourselves the world’s cruelties have taught us to suppress. It’s incumbent on
us to consider reinvesting in ourselves and our future with tools that can even the
odds in our favor. To invest in the potential of each other, to understand their
perspectives and forgive their prejudices, and seek to find common ground strong
enough for us to once again start building. We may not be able to solidify all
ground to find commonality, but we can solidify enough ground to build
platforms on which we can extend our hands and, maybe one day, a bridge.

At the end of the day, deep within ourselves, who we are, what we care for, what
we value, is that not the choice of life? Is that not what we want for ourselves, for
our children, and for theirs? For thousands of years, people just like us gave
everything they had for our future. Our time is the culmination of a billion
sacrifices – every soldier on every battlefield, every martyr, every king, tyrant,
slave, warrior, artisan, philosopher, lord or peasant. The sum of all their toils, all
the sacrifices of their hopes and lost dreams are boiled down to this moment, here,
and now, and the choices we make with the time we have been given.

Simply stated, I can’t think of anything worse than failing them. To not carry the
torch they have lit and carried for us to the victory they never could reach, the
victory that we uniquely can. To me there is nothing more important, and I’m
tired of being encouraged to ignore that. I’m tired of glorified ignorance to the
reality of our world and our potential to change it. I refuse to continue granting
meaning to society’s dog and pony shows: celebrity news, celebrated
complacency and fleeting materialism – the choreographed wrestling matches of
today’s bribed political dynamic – all washed down with diet cola and light beer.

We have one life to live, one life to interact with the framework of existence, and
we find ourselves at the zenith of our capability to evolve the foundations of our
biological constraints. To choose to take this leap, to reach a higher tier, and to
live knowing that this was when our species made it. Where we passed the test
life gave us and earned the right to continue our evolution not just within our
world, but far beyond it.

That is the choice of our time – one that faces every one of us. And as one of us, I
made a promise to devote my very best efforts to propose an actually effective
way to choose for that end. Something that could be given away to anyone who

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wished to adopt – and evolve – these ideas, and begin discussing how we can
work together to see them made real.

Nobody asked me, paid me or qualified me to make this promise. I did this on
my own, and I made this promise, to myself, and to you, to see this task fulfilled
because I chose to. I made this promise because I don’t answer to the cynics and
the apologists of the status quo – I answer to you.

I answer to you because we are all in this together, and I sincerely and honestly
believe in our shared capabilities, in the potential that we can have if we set aside
our contrived differences and work together to build what can become of the best
of ourselves.

It’s the only thing that can save us. It’s the only thing that should save us.

And should we choose to make that leap, then our feet will land in uncharted
terrain on a brilliant frontier. As technology expands and satisfies ever-more
needs through indefinite resource production, conflicts will reduce, economies
will grow, as will relationships and trade agreements. Development and
modernization will begin in regions that were once war-torn, and the echoes of
resource conflict will begin to fade into memory, just like all other plights of our
nature that technical means have allowed us to banish into the past. From there,
as technology greater connects us and brings us closer together, exploration
beyond Earth will become ever-more sophisticated and we will find what there is
to discover in the vastness beyond our planet.

We will reach not just the next tier of civilization, but also an essential realization:
that we are not just members of individual countries, as this isn’t the label that
should define us. We are all human beings; we are all people – that is the label
that should define us. That is because we all share this rock in space together. And
whether we live on it together, or die on it together, one way or the other,
ultimately, it will be so together.

It is my greatest hope that we can be able to realize that one day. We place
boundless faith in gods we cannot see to form our fate and future. Perhaps we
could strive instead to see the day where we might place faith in each other.

So I will start by placing my faith in you.

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“The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least
in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it
or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.



It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There
is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image
of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one
another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.”

- Carl Sagan

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Appendix

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A1: Universal Energy

Implementation Strategy
While the purpose The Next Giant Leap is to outline blueprints for Universal
Energy as a framework and describe the technologies and capabilities that make
it possible, funding and implementing Universal Energy are wholly separate
questions. In furtherance of their consideration, this writing proposes a
boilerplate implementation strategy that doesn’t wade into the oft-divisive and
precarious subjects of partisan governance or partisan economics. Instead, this
approach assumes a good faith analysis by mechanisms of economy and state –
the world we should live in, and could live in, should we as people look past
partisanship-driven self-dealing in favor of solutions that actually improve our
way of life and our civilization as a whole.

This implementation strategy will hinge on several factors: how much Universal
Energy is estimated to cost, the logistics and management of implementation,
how it can be funded, and how it can overhaul our economy. This boilerplate
strategy is intended to be a proposed path for actionable efforts to implement the
framework and a starting point to encourage both commercial and state
enterprises to begin investing in a next-generation clean energy future.

First, we will consider how much Universal Energy is estimated to cost at full,
nationwide implementation – quantified by an energy generation potential of
300% of our present capacity (including current infrastructure). This figure is
estimated to be $6.63 trillion USD paid over a period of 10 years ($663 billion
annually), a detailed pricing breakdown of which can be found on page 315.

While this figure is substantially less than other energy overhauls that have been
proposed by both public and private initiatives, it still carries a degree of “sticker
shock” that’s important to dispel in the context of nationwide infrastructural
projects. This is all the more true since Universal Energy carries myriad social
benefits that are not presented by most of the primary consumers of public funds
(like endless wars).

In that mention, it’s worth reviewing some of the larger expenditures our time
has seen paid, whether we as a people focused on it directly or not:

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• $38 trillion: the inflation-adjusted total the Federal Government (alone) has
spent over the past 10 years.598

• $6.8 trillion: the aggregate sum of U.S. Defense Budgets for the past ten
years. This figure does not include military spending paid outside of the
defense budget (veterans affairs, pensions, homeland security, clandestine
operations, interest on war debt, nuclear arms, etc.).599

• $6.4 trillion: the aggregate sum the United States has spent on wars in the
Middle East and Asia since 2001.600

• $3.5 trillion: the total sum we have paid on the interest on the national debt
over the past 10 years. Not principal – just interest.601

• $1.5 trillion: the estimated cost of the F-35 fighter jet program over its
operational lifetime. That’s for a single class of military aircraft.602

• $6.5 trillion: the total sum the U.S. military is unable to account for in a recent
audit.603

In aggregate, these fantastical expenses have given our society very little in
tangible value, and could have paid for Universal Energy several times over. In
doing so, it could have instead built the foundations for a world that would
consider scarcity – the prime reason for the accumulation and utilization of hard
power to begin with – as a relic of a past, and have enacted a shift in circumstances
that avoided the need for mass military spending in the first place – a true value,
at comparatively modest cost.

Who Pays to Implement Universal Energy?

The short answer is a mixture of public and private entities backed by a tax and
investment incentives. The longer answer is more nuanced and specific to the
areas of implementation, which we’ll go over in more detail throughout this
section and Appendix. We’ll begin by outlining the allocation of spending
responsibility for the resource sector in question. In doing so, this estimate
separates resource production into two categories: public resources and commercial
resources.

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Public resources. Critical resources that require implementation over a large scale,
and/or operation with existing public infrastructure – making them ideal candidates
for municipal management: water, electricity, and hydrogen fuel. These systems
comprise the $6.63 trillion cost estimate for Universal Energy (page 315). In this
model, the systems that produce these resources are developed by a mixture of
public and private enterprise (explained below), yet purchased and implemented
by public services, delivering their produced resources as managed-profit
municipal functions.

Commercial resources. Commercial resources are not considered as appropriate for

implementation as a public function and are intended to be delivered by private
enterprise in a competitive market, with companies operating in resource
production enjoying attractive tax benefits both in operation, employment and
investment. These resources include food, building materials and materials for next-
generation infrastructure.

The systems that provide these resources: indoor farms, prefabricated

manufacturing facilities and advanced material synthesis should be funded
primarily by the private sector as a commercial service that is aided by tax incentives
that we'll discuss within the upcoming sections of this Appendix. The resources they
produce would remain a function of the private sector, regulated by the public sector,
and sold to the public in a regulated free market which would have increased
purchasing power as a result of the social improvements discussed herein.

Waste management is assumed to function as either a public or a private function,

depending on the locale, powered by systems developed by joint public-private
enterprise under attractive tax incentives. The energy they generate could be sold
on a regulated commercial market or used for supplementary resource production
as deemed prudent by the operating entity in question, but is not focused on within
this model.

To recap: the provision of public resources are the responsibility of the public
sector. The provision of commercial resources are the responsibility of the private
sector, even both will use technologies developed in large part by private enterprise.

A fundraising approach to reach $663 billion per year to pay for Universal Energy’s
initial deployment would come from several sources: government spending cuts
(with intensive, honest and public investigations on wasteful programs and
expenditures), mitigation of social problems requiring government expenditure and

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additional revenue generation from modest tax increases. A more detailed

breakdown of the possibilities inherent to this approach can be found on page 307.

Who Manages Implementation and Operation?

In this model, Universal Energy’s implementation and operational management

is performed by “The Public Interest Company,” (PIC) which is a new type of
corporate entity that’s a unique mixture of private enterprise, government
agency, the non-profit sector and the American electorate.

To explain exactly what that is, I think it would be helpful to first illustrate why The
Public Interest Company is different from other business entities – especially entities
that resemble some form of marriage between the public sector and private
business. To that end, let’s consider some of these entities, and more importantly
why they are not capable of managing Universal Energy’s implementation or long-
term operation:

Corporate entity. The primary goal of a corporation is to profit. Its purpose is to

make money and grow to a point where it can maximize profits by any legal means
necessary – with all other concerns as secondary. Corporations are excellent
innovators that increase job growth, but in the absence of significant competition
and effective regulations, they ultimately grow to a point where they monopolize
their market sector and seek to increase profits at the expense of ever-diminishing
services.

This is why, for example, telecommunication companies in the United States have a
virtual oligarchy for mobile, television and internet service, which is why we pay
significantly more than the rest of the world for those services at significantly
reduced quality.604 We cannot have this happen with something as important as
Universal Energy.

Therefore, as corporations are profit motivated as opposed to service motivated, they

are unsuitable for managing the operation of Universal Energy’s systems over the
long term. However, as corporations have superior engineering prowess due to the
competitive nature of capitalism, they are the natural entity The Public Interest
Company would contract to develop Universal Energy’s systems, even though they
wouldn’t manage the services these systems would provide to the public.

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Public entity (bureaucracy). A public entity is a function of government, generally

the executive branch. It may provide abstract services that most of us never interact
with (FDA, EPA), services we know about and hope to never interact with (FBI,
Department of Justice), and services that we know all too well about and dread
interactions with (Internal Revenue Service).

However, bureaucracies can tend to look dimly upon the notions of efficiency and
accountability, even if what services they provide are ultimately of ostensible social
value. This is rooted in the fact that there is no competition for a bureaucracy, and
they are relatively insulated from outside audit to hold their performance
accountable or change the regulations they write by themselves.

Because of this, bureaucracies have little motivation to improve or adapt, as even

the admission that they might need to do so carries the implication that they are
operating at substandard performance. These are problems that can be reformed in
a regulatory capacity, but it is much harder to reform the ability of bureaucracy to
undertake a large-scale project in an operational capacity. Universal Energy needs to
be implemented with efficiency and effectiveness as paramount considerations,
leaving bureaucratic agency as an unsuitable candidate.

Not-for-profit company. Many organizations of “nonprofit” operation have made

marks on the world: The Red Cross, World Wildlife Fund, Salvation Army (and the
NCAA, interestingly enough) being well-known examples. However, not-for-profit
designation is largely a tax determination and non-profits do not necessarily funnel
money back into themselves for internal growth – nor do they necessarily raise
sufficient revenue to do so as a core competency.

For non-profits centered around charity work, much of what money they raise is
simply given away or spent to mitigate social problems. For other “non-profits” that
are set up for pass-through income (like the NFL used to be), proceeds go to various
stakeholders or administrative functions as opposed to expanding the
organization’s scale.

But The Public Interest Company is different – its goal is to expand the reach of
Universal Energy and ever-improve the quality and value of the service it provides.
It needs to profit to some extent because systems will eventually need to be repaired,
upgraded and replaced over time. Also, the scale of Universal Energy’s
implementation will need to increase as wide as possible to effectively end resource
scarcity and climate change – both of which cost money.

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To this end, whatever profits raised will need to be directly re-invested into The
Public Interest Company, making the traditional non-profit model less than ideal.

Public/private hybrid. In the past, our government has jumped into bed with
various private businesses to create conglomerated, state-owned entities, and in
many cases, the results were monstrosities. Indeed, the marriage of “big business”
with “big government” frequently ranks among the finest examples of government
buffoonery, even among the other resident experts in this department (see: The
Pentagon).605 But while the execution is lacking, the idea is ostensibly well-intended.

Yet the reason this model fails on execution is because it is fatally flawed from the
onset, as the entity is run in the same capacity as a bureaucracy: seeking not to rock
the political boat, resisting accountability and efforts to self-reflect, self-reform and
self-advance. Universal Energy’s implementation needs to be performed by an
entity that shares opposite traits and yet still retains all of the positive aspects of
corporate business and not-for-profit companies – which brings us back to The
Public Interest Company.

The Public Interest Company is intended to combine all the positive aspects of
these business models while discarding their drawbacks.

To maximize efficiency, a Public Interest Company is structured like a corporation,

with an executive leadership and board, offering services for a profit. However,
unlike a corporation that seeks to profit as greatly as possible, a Public Interest
Company profits only as much as it needs to in order to invest money back into
itself to expand and improve the quality of offered services, except in the issuance
of dividends.

Like a bureaucracy, a Public Interest Company provides a public service for the
public interest and is (initially) funded by public funds, but unlike a bureaucracy or
public-private hybrid, a Public Interest Company isn’t owned by the government.
Rather, it’s owned by the public, collectively, and remains directly accountable therein.
Each U.S. citizen, upon reaching voting age, is given a single share of the company
and is paid dividends from the company in the event of financial surpluses. As
opposed to a corporation where the majority shareholder has the most sway, all
shareholders have equal voice.

In this model, The Public Interest Company would be run by a board of directors
that serve eight-year terms and are elected every Presidential election cycle by the

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public via simple majority, ranked-choice vote. These board members, in turn,
would appoint a CEO of the company to manage it in the same capacity as a
corporation today. The CEO would remain accountable to the elected board, which
could also vote to issue bonds to raise money for future initiatives, or in the case of
revenue surpluses due to international sales of Universal Energy’s systems (which
are sold at greater profit margins abroad), issue dividends to shareholders. In this
model, all votes and meeting minutes of The Public Interest Company are
transparent by design and made public.

In operation, The Public Interest Company would be funded by congressional

appropriation each fiscal year for 10 years (see page 307 for details) and would
manage the implementation of Universal Energy’s primary resource production
systems by soliciting bids from private companies through a process that is public
and transparent by law.

Upon selecting a bid, The Public Interest Company pays a private enterprise to
develop, deliver and implement the systems that provide the Universal Energy
framework. It’s no different than how the government buys a fighter jet, except this
expenditure now instead goes to systems of higher social value. And once the
system was owned by The Public Interest Company, it would be implemented as
determined by a nationwide implementation plan The Public Interest Company
would publicly issue every year.

This process would work in one of three ways:

• In cases where The Public Interest Company purchases already existing

technologies, the technology itself would become property of the PIC and the
system developer would retain ownership of all relevant intellectual
property and would have the right to sell additional models to whomever
allowed by law.

• In cases where the PIC paid contractors to engineer new systems, the PIC
would retain ownership of all intellectual property pertaining to the system,
the agreement of which would be a prerequisite to awarding any contract.

• In cases where the PIC deems appropriate, it would have the authority to
purchase intellectual property from private entities should the entity be
willing to sell them.

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• Companies who build technologies relating to Universal Energy as a

primary business model would be subject to lower income tax burdens, as
would their employees . Further, private investors in these companies could
enjoy lower capital gains taxes than other private industries.

Depending on which case applies, The Public Interest Company would manage any
delivered systems to provide energy and resources to society at low cost, quantified
as no more than 2 cents per kilowatt-hour. In operation, The Public Interest
Company would have four funding sources:

Congressional appropriation. In this model, this allocation is approximately $663

billion for 10 years. After that, The Public Interest Company would be self-funded
through either direct energy sales or international sales of equipment.

Direct energy sales. The target price of electricity under Universal Energy is 2
cents/kilowatt-hour – 84% less than what it costs today. Assuming electricity
consumption increases ~50% to 6.5 trillion kWh annually, this will generate an
annual $130 billion to The Public Interest Company. This model does not include
pricing models for hydrogen fuel, but expects it to sell at a comparatively lower rate.

Corporate bonds. To fund future initiatives, the Public Interest Company could
issue bonds with a fixed rate of interest on an open market, subject to shareholder
vote. These bonds would be sold similarly to any corporate / treasury bond today,
with the exception that capital gains taxes on profits would be lower for The Public
Interest Company.

International sales. The Public Interest Company, through coordination with the
State Department, would sell energy technologies to foreign governments at an
increased profit, generating significant revenue.

With direct energy sales, corporate bonds and international technology sales, The
Public Interest Company would ideally be operationally self-sustaining after the 10-
year initial funding period. As its scale expands, it would first pay into a surplus
fund to cover any future cost overruns. With this fund in place, it would continue
to re-invest profits over time into energy-producing infrastructure, either to expand
the scale of implementation or maintain systems that have already been deployed.
Once profits reach a point where there are continual budget surpluses, these
surpluses would be evenly divided and issued as dividends to all company
shareholders (every American citizen of voting age until death).

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A2: Collective Capitalism

This writing has placed strong emphasis on how resources are linked to the health
of a society and its economy, first with how resource scarcity inevitably causes
economic hardship and thus conflict, and second, how we can use technology to
fundamentally prevent that problem from occurring.

Yet while the scarcity of resources carries negative economic impact, an abundance
of resources inversely causes economic growth – all the more so if that abundance
is indefinite. To fully embrace that growth, this writing advocates spending
significant sums of money to build systems on a nationwide scale to make nigh
unlimited energy and resources a reality.

The model that this expenditure operates is neither capitalism, socialism nor even
“social democracy” – an oft-referenced capitalist/social hybrid that’s seen in many
European democracies. Rather, this model takes a wholly distinct approach to a
society’s economic framework because it establishes parameters outside of a finite
resource paradigm.

This model is called “Collective Capitalism” because it hinges on the belief that the
systems of capitalism work best when all social sectors are operating from a place
of maximum strength. This idea in and of itself is not controversial – few would
argue that a collectively stronger, more educated, more prosperous and healthier
society functions at greater performance than not. Yet using an ideological approach
(liberal, conservative, technocratic) to achieve this status is far more elusive than a
technological approach that can help build the foundations by means of indefinite
provision. Indeed, it’s much easier to provide water, energy, food or fuel to
everyone when you can synthesize them inexpensively to effectively unlimited
scales.

But the core resource provisions for our social operation are simply the first step.
Collective Capitalism, as a mindset, seeks to extend those provisions to everyone at
a low cost so everyone, collectively, can operate from a place of security and
strength and engage the mechanisms of capitalism to invest, achieve, discover,
invent and, in turn, continue to perpetually improve the collective by virtue of
capitalism’s inherent rewards. It’s the system we should have had, and wish we
had, but was missing the key component of unlimited energy and resources.

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For example, here are some of the more noteworthy aspects of social and economic
improvement that can be realized through Universal Energy:

More Disposable Income

According to the U.S. Census, the median household income in the United States is
$60,336.606 Not accounting for state and local sales taxes (as well as property taxes if
a homeowner and/or extra payroll taxes if self-employed), the average wage earner
has a tax burden of 29.6% of their 2018 pre-tax income.607 That would mean that the
median U.S. household takes home roughly $42,500 (rounding up for easier math).
Note citation for rationale of average versus median figures in this context.608

That comes to $816.30 per week, or $3,541.66 per month.

With that broken down, we’ll source some routine life costs:

• According to the USDA (as cited by USA Today), the weekly cost to feed a
family of four ranges from $146-$289.00.609 The median cost of that range is
$218.00 / week. That’s $942.50 per month, or $11,310 per year.

• According to the American Automobile Association (AAA) using data from

the U.S. Energy Information Administration, fuel costs average
approximately 11.6 cents per mile,610 and the average American adult drives
roughly 13,476 miles per year.611 Assuming each household of four includes
two working parents with two vehicles, that’s 26,476 miles driven per year
at a fuel cost of $3,071 per year.

• As of 2017, the average U.S. household consumes roughly 10,400 kilowatt-

hours of electricity per year (as of 2018, it’s 10,972).612 While the average
national price of electricity is 10.53 cents per kilowatt-hour for all sectors, it
averages 12.87 cents for households613 with a contiguous high of 20.60 cents
for New England and a national high of 32.47 cents for Hawaii. That comes
to an average of $1,155.35 nationally, although New England and Hawaii are
two to three times that.

• According to Rocket Mortgage, a subsidiary of Quicken Loans, the average

natural gas bill is $661 per year ($55/month).614 The company further
estimates that the average water bill is roughly $845 per year ($70.39/month)

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for households consuming the national average of 88 gallons per day.615 That
comes to a total of $1,506 per year.

Adding up the costs of electricity, fuel, water and heat, that comes to $5,732 per year,
arriving at $17,042 when the cost of food is added in.

If we were to assume a corresponding reduction in the cost of electricity, fuel, water

and heat to match Universal Energy’s target reduction of 83% to 2 cents per
kilowatt-hour, that would present a cost savings of $4,757 per year. Let’s assume
further that these cost reductions translated to food in the form of reduced energy /
resource costs for irrigation, cultivation and transportation, as well as the advent of
vertical farming within urban infrastructure powered by inexpensive energy. If we
were to suggest a 30% reduction in food cost, that would come to a cost savings of
$3,393 per year. Added to the savings from utilities, and that derives a sum of some
$8,150 per year for family of four.

Assuming further that this cost saving could be extrapolated on a per-capita basis,
that comes to a total of $2,037 per person of any age. Across a society of 330 million
(according to the U.S. census), that comes to a total of $672 billion that can be
injected into our economy, saved for retirement or education, invested into real
estate, businesses or other financial strategies.

Across our society, that translates to $6.72 trillion per decade.

The scale of such a figure presents massive implications for all income classes, but
especially the lowest – for each extra dollar in their pocket in this context is not only
tax-free (effectively making its real value 29% higher), it functions as a force
multiplier to their financial mobility. Indeed, an extra $500 per month to a family
living paycheck to paycheck matters far more than it does to a family that’s
independently wealthy.

Yet in this application, the distribution isn’t necessarily weighted to certain

economic classes – everyone gets the same bonus based on reduced costs society-
wide. It’s not socialism that takes from the wealthy to give to the poor, it simply
uses technology to raise the collective floor.

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Reduced Business Costs

Energy is an inexorable aspect of the costs of doing business today in our global
economy. This is quantified across several key areas: energy costs of material and/or
resource procurement, manufacturing, transportation, processing of both material
and data, heating, lighting, etc. These factors each manifest one way or another into
nearly all business sectors, and consequently are absorbed into the price of the
product or service that’s offered at market. If reduced energy costs can provide a
cost savings for residential households, the purchasing and consumption scale of
incorporated business would see corresponding reductions on subsequently higher
orders.

This is all the truer since the cost reductions would cascade across an array of
business sectors and their interoperating supply and manufacturing chains. For
example: if Universal Energy makes a raw material 20% less expensive to source at
equal quality, reduces the energy cost to manufacture systems with it by 20%, and
further enables a 20% cost reduction to transport the manufactured product to
market – those cost savings combine across the supply chain. Across our national –
or global – economy, the financial implications are enormous.

To determine just how impactful, we’ll take a look at figures from the Energy
Information Administration, specifically their Commercial Buildings Energy
Consumption Survey (CBECS) for the year 2012 (the last year in which full data is
available).616

According to the survey, American business consumed a total of 1.243 trillion

kilowatt-hours of electricity.617 At a national average cost of 10.67 cents per kilowatt-
hour for commercial enterprise and 6.92 cents per kilowatt-hour for industrial
applications (heavy manufacturing),618 that respectively totals $132.63 billion and
$86 billion.

The CBECS survey further assessed that American business consumed 2.193 trillion
cubic feet of natural gas in 2012619 at a cost of $7.78 per thousand cubic feet for
commercial enterprise and $4.21 per thousand cubic feet for industrial applications.
That respectively totals $17 billion and $9.23 billion.

Now, we’ll take a quick look at fuel. According to the Department of Transportation,
commercial vehicles (including trucks and busses) accounted for about ten percent
of all vehicle miles driven.620 Further data by the Energy Information

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Administration, as curated by Statista, estimates that the U.S. consumed 8.98 million
barrels per day of gasoline and 3.13 million barrels per day of distillate fuel oil
(which includes diesel).621 That translates to 3.277 billion barrels of gasoline and
1.142 billion barrels of distillate fuel oil. Extrapolated into gallons (at 42 gallons to
the barrel), these figures respectively translate to 137.66 billion gallons of gasoline
and 47.98 billion gallons of diesel.

Leveraging the Department of Transportation’s estimate, we’ll assume that 10% of

that gasoline consumption was from commercial and industrial applications. Yet
since diesel is the fuel of choice for trucking and heavy machinery, we’ll assume
95% of diesel consumption came from commercial and industrial enterprise. This
leaves a figure of 13.77 billion gallons of gasoline and 45.58 billion gallons of diesel
that can be attributed to businesses.

At a national average price of $2.70 / gallon for gasoline and $3.06 for diesel,622 that
comes to a total aggregate cost of $176.65 billion.

With this established, let’s add up our totals. Based on the calculations above, we’ve
estimated that:

• American commercial enterprises annually spend $132.63 billion on

electricity, falling to $86 billion for heavy industry.

• American commercial enterprises annually spend $17 billion on natural gas,

falling to $9.23 billion for heavy industry.

Added up, that comes to $149.63 billion for commercial enterprises and $95.23
billion for heavy industry that’s added on top of the estimated $176.65 billion
shared by both for diesel and fuel costs.

This creates a total cost liability of between $326.28 billion and $271.88 billion
depending commercial or industrial application. If we were to split the difference,
that would come to a figure of roughly $300 billion per year.

If that figure, for sake of argument, were subjected to an 82% cost reduction, that
would present a cost savings of $246 billion per year. As this translates to $2.46
trillion per decade, such cost reductions present a capital abundance that can further
enable businesses of all sizes to invest in their own growth and future success.

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This approach can be scaled further through targeted tax incentives. When
discussing Universal Energy’s management and implementation strategy in the
previous section of the Appendix, mention was made of the possibility of
dramatically lowering the tax liability for businesses operating in Universal
Energy’s sectors, along with corresponding incentives for the employees and
investors of such companies.

This is a key component of a “Collective Capitalism” mindset, hinging on the notion

that industries and personnel that provide critical – and extremely beneficial –
services to society’s long-term operation and improvement should face a
correspondingly reduced tax liability to fund society’s public functions. It defies
reason that a company making cigarettes or hawking payday loans at predatory
interest rates should operate under the same tax burden as companies developing
energy technologies for The Public Interest Company, growing food in vertical
farms or building next-generation infrastructure to provide an improved quality of
life for society.

The same is true for the employees of such industries, as well as their investors
across equities, bonds and other financial products. If an industry provides
empirical social benefits on a transformational scale, why should an employee face
the same tax burden as an employee of an industry that doesn’t directly deliver the
same degree of social improvements? Further, why should an investor seeking to
inject capital into a socially beneficial enterprise pay the same capital gains taxes as
someone seeking a quick profit by shorting the same stock, or by throwing their
money into shadier organizations like private prisons or conglomerates with
abysmal human rights records?

Here’s what this could look like in practice. Let’s say that we establish an empirical
threshold (defined specifics, not abstract opinions) of social benefit within varied
industrial sectors, and assign “classifications” to such industries using a transparent
assessment criteria. Beyond participation in Universal Energy, this criteria could
include a lower ratio of executive to average worker compensation, demonstrated
ethical track record, external social outreach and investment, operational
transparency, and/or quality of benefits offered to their workforce in aggregate.

Based on this corporate classification (not unlike a “B-Corp” designation), the

company, its employees, and its investors could enjoy special tax incentives. An
example might reflect the following table:

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Corporate Corporate Income Tax Rate Capital Gains Tax

Classification Rate

Class A 0-5% on a progressive scale based on Short term: 5%. Long

Corporation income. Maximum tax rate is 5%. term: 0%. After $1M,
Employee income tax is capped at gains are taxed as
15% up to $1M. income.

Class B 0-10% on a progressive scale based Short term: 15%. Long

Corporation on income. Maximum tax rate is 10%. term: 5%. After $1M,
Employee income tax is capped at gains are taxed as
20%, up to $1M. income.

Class C 0-21% on a progressive scale based Short term: 25%. Long

Corporation on income. Maximum tax rate is 21%. term: 15%. After $1M,
(Current tax Employee income tax rate unchanged. gains are taxed as
rates as of 2019) income.

Under this model, current companies do not pay any more in taxation than they do
today, yet Class A and Class B corporations would receive significantly more
attractive tax incentives to engage in business sectors earning such classifications –
of which Universal Energy would be a primary qualifier. This reasoning can
extend further to other industries that deliver an empirical social benefit: making
bionic limbs for amputees, investing in next-generation medical research, building
advanced transportation infrastructure, and so on.

In such reasoning, there is a clear distinction here between “picking winners and
losers” and incentivizing investment to industries that make the world an
objectively better place. Collective Capitalism doesn’t seek methods that punish
industries, companies, or personnel that do not choose to invest in empirical social
progress, but it does seek to reward them through the establishment of frameworks
that makes this task easier and less expensive. In turn, this would incentivize and
encourage a social impetus to continually invest and be part of industries that
deliver a strong social benefit – and, further, seek to expand that benefit at higher
rates of return than otherwise.

Consequently, these incentives could see reprioritizations across our economy.

Defense contractors, for instance, aren’t really companies that specialize in building

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high-tech weaponry so much as they are expert engineering firms that specialize in
building high-tech systems. There are few obstacles, in real terms, from shifting
primary focus from military infrastructure to domestic infrastructure. If you can
build a Generation-V fighter jet, you can build effectively anything. Providing both
a public funding impetus and tax incentive to shift from weapons to, say,
sophisticated energy technologies, next-generation rail travel, hyperloops or
civilian aerospace can help facilitate this transition.

In conjunction with lower operating expenses from energy cost reductions and
public funding allocations for Universal Energy and its underlying technologies,
this can keep current flagship industries in play building critical American
infrastructure, while also enabling opportunities for start-ups to gain a foothold and
accordingly prosper. This would transform the “military industrial complex” into
an “energy/resource industrial complex,” delivering cascading social benefits at
only moderate costs.

Increased Job Growth

Reducing the operating expenses of businesses, both through drastically lower

energy costs and enhanced tax incentives, stands to provide several avenues for job
creation beyond the obvious potential presented by large-scale investment in next-
generation energy and resource technologies. Remaining competitive in this new
frontier will require as much investment in personnel as technology, both in terms
of manufacturing, maintenance, marketing, managing and deployment logistics.
This means jobs.

It’s true that in the past, certain historical instances of operating cost reductions have
seen some companies choose to pay for increased executive bonuses and stock
buybacks,623 as opposed to workforce expansion and salary increases. But these have
primarily occurred in instances where a company had entrenched dominance in
their market sector and could comfortably afford to rest on their laurels to hold off
emergent competitors who came to market with more nimble and disruptive
approaches.

This possibility would be substantially harder with the market sectors opened up
by Universal Energy, not only because the technologies (and thus industries) are in
a degree of infancy that hinders monopolization, but also because The Public
Interest company (in this model) would seek to prioritize contracts with companies
who a) hire American, b) pay competitive wages and benefits, c) competes fairly

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and refrains from anticompetitive strategies, and d) takes strides to achieve a

corporate classification that would only be granted after demonstrating a higher tier
of operating ethics both to their society and workforce.

In such instances, the possibilities for job growth are enormous.

To see how, let’s quickly circle back to the estimated $246 billion American
businesses would save under Universal Energy. At an assumed 25% tax overhead
to hire a salaried employee at $50,000 per year ($62,500), this reduction in energy and
fuel costs alone would be sufficient to create 3.94 million new jobs. Adding on the
potential savings due to increased corporate classification, investment in next-
generation industries and technologies, and the advent and functions of The Public
Interest Company, and the potential job growth increases substantially.

Of the $663 billion congressional appropriation that would be devoted to

implementing Universal Energy over a 10-year period, it’s essential to note that this
money isn’t just sent into a void – it’s paid to enterprises who win contracts to
develop and deploy the technologies inherent to Universal Energy under a
transparent bidding process.

The first area to receive these funds would be engineering companies that develop
the underlying technologies for Universal Energy. This will create job demand
within a multitude of technical skills: physics and engineering, metallurgy,
computer science, software development, graphic modelling, automated
manufacturing, 3-D printing, quality control, human resources, project
management, advertising and marketing (among others).

As these companies expand along with job demand, they in turn will need to expand
their acquisition of materials and resources to develop the systems they were
contracted to deliver. They will need to buy materials, tools, vehicles, fixtures, office
space, uniforms, amenities and everything else that comes from the manufacturing
world. All of this will create jobs.

It will also create job demand in industrial sectors these companies depend on to
operate, which in turn will create job demand in all of the support and promotion
positions that make their own business possible. This job demand will create
additional demand for schools and the educators to staff them along with all of the
support positions that make their jobs possible. The result is a cascading increase in
job demand corresponding to a cascading reduction in operating costs – not only

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creating a next-generation economy, but also revitalizing the state of American

manufacturing to a subsequently higher tier.

Revitalized American Manufacturing

With the exception of advents in information technologies and weapons

development, the overall state of American manufacturing has been in decline since
the height of post-WWII boom years.624 While there are myriad causes of this state
of affairs, an investment Universal Energy enables us to chart a fundamentally
different course towards a future where the American economy can reclaim its
status as a global leader in technology, infrastructure and innovation.

Sparking a social drive to build advanced energy technologies and corresponding

infrastructure gives us the head start on research and development within this new
economic frontier. Further, by implementing them first in our country we would
become the foremost experts in this sector and those surrounding it. And as we have
engineered the technologies therein and have perfected their ideal means of
deployment, we position ourselves to be their best purveyors to other countries. The
potential size of this market internationally is easily in the trillions of dollars over
the long term, as our expertise with these technologies would translate to repeat
business in contracts for maintenance, upgrades, etc., providing future revenue
streams to American business and our economy.

Reduced Social Afflictions

The social investments and derivative results inherent to Universal Energy and
Collective Capitalism fundamentally makes life easier and less expensive. An
abundance of inexpensive energy and resources reduces the cost of living and
increases economic, career and social mobility. It further mitigates the scarcity and
desperation-driven impetuses to engage in criminal activity. Life’s just “better” and
people have more time and opportunities to engage in activities that they find value
in – be it their family, hobbies, side projects or new vocations. In these
circumstances, it is significantly easier for someone to start their own company,
innovate a new idea or product, and/or invest either time or money in another
venture they believe will ultimately have social value. It expands the purchasing
power, investing power and financial influence of the middle class, and extends to
them luxuries that were once available only to the social elite.

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Effectively, Collective Capitalism leads to a world that is powered by resource

abundance, a removal of need and a social safety net that is technology-driven, not
by limiting the ceiling or redistributing from the top – but rather by using
technology to simply raise the floor and the foundations on which it stands.

The chart below represents a concept known as “Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.” It

breaks down the core needs of human beings, with the lower end of the pyramid
represented by critical need that is resource-driven – the needs Universal Energy
provides as a core function. This allows society to place increased focus on the
remaining categories of need, encouraging us to extend ourselves for more
meaningful things that result in greater social enrichment, culturally, intellectually
and spiritually.

In this line of reasoning, it’s worth mentioning that much of our culture today is
provided by artists and writers who thrived in generations past. (Indeed, many of
the comic book heroes who grace movie screens today debuted 50-80 years ago).
There’s little market for today’s storytellers, artists, poets, artisans or philosophers
because it’s difficult for them to make a living from doing so. These people once

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gave society great value, but today their creative capabilities are sidelined by the
demands of a cutthroat economy.

The financial benefits inherent to the Collective Capitalism afford the provision for
abstract social concepts and enlighten the subjects we discuss, goals we set and
behaviors we value. Because all core needs are met in this model through
technology, the stresses and efforts that were previously required to meet the
demands of life are no longer present. Concordantly, we no longer need to distract
ourselves with fleeting content to make ourselves feel better in the face of these
stresses and efforts, allowing us to finally concentrate on what we truly want as
people, as we truly want it.

Over time, this will further mitigate existing social problems and increase the scale
of shared economic prosperity on multiple fronts which allows our society to look
inward and mend its wounds to become stronger and form a more cohesive cultural
identity based on an improved quality of life.

Notably, this is an identity that can refresh our reputation abroad. When combined
with the provision of Universal Energy’s technologies internationally (allowing
other countries to further increase their own quality of life) this affords us a degree
of appreciation that can work to re-solidify the United States as the center for global
economic and cultural identity. Additionally, it can extend our humanitarian
outreach and also lead to stronger alliances.

Universal Energy would have done far more for Haiti than the largely ineffective
relief efforts that consumed a total of $14 billion,625 the same with any other area
victimized by natural disasters. Additionally, we maintain allegiances with other
countries today based largely on inexpensive resource acquisition and the security
assurances and weapons exports that come with them. But an allegiance of security
is an allegiance based on fear…and fear knows little loyalty. Rather, we could create
allegiances based on social and economic improvement and a functional end to the
social afflictions inherent to resource scarcity and climate change. These are
allegiances based on far healthier terms amid a global climate of heightened
economic prosperity and easier conditions for peace.

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A3: Revenue Allocations

To fund Universal Energy’s target cost of $6.63 trillion over a ten-year period, this
model suggests several reallocations of federal spending, alongside certain
revenue raising approaches, to obtain the necessary funds to implement the
framework in the manner proposed. As with this model as a whole, these
approaches will not be inherently partisan or politically ideological, and will
rather reflect a good faith analysis under the assumption that our society, in turn,
can get to a place where its leadership and social institutions can operate under
such faith. Further, this model will primarily look to aspects of the public sector
at the federal level alone, and will make assumptions of private investment and
consumer spending based on certain percentages of American Gross Domestic
Product (GDP).

To begin, we’ll start with the federal budget, FY2018, using figures sourced from
the Congressional Budget Office.626

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Of these outlays, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are (at least in theory)
supposed to be funded through separate revenue-raising measures (payroll taxes
(FICA)) but are often included in total federal expenditures. This model
acknowledges the comparatively poor value American public healthcare costs
represent compared to the rest of the developed world (we generally pay more
per-person for public healthcare programs that are only available to the poor and
elderly than other nations do for healthcare that covers everyone in their society).

However, this model’s focus will not center on the over-payment of public health
programs – nor the current state or solvency of Social Security. Instead, it will
focus primarily on the expenditures and functions of the United States Federal
Government as it exists today. In doing so, we’ll also need to take a look at the
revenue it earns over a fiscal year (again in this case for 2018).

For FY2018, the U.S. raised a total of $3.3 trillion – some $800 billion less than it
spent (meaning there remained a “deficit” of $800 billion).

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Of this revenue raised, $1.2 trillion was for the “trust-funded” programs of Social
Security, Medicare and Medicaid (which we’re not including in this analysis). As
these programs are supposed to be funded through separate payroll taxes, we
will break down revenue allocations/deficits by funding source and intended use:

Medicare, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security:

$1.2 trillion raised.

$1.95 trillion spent.
Deficit: -$750 billion

Other mandatory, defense and discretionary spending:

$2.176 trillion raised.

$2.157 trillion spent.
Surplus: $19 billion.

For this analysis, we will assume that the deficit comes primarily from a lack of
payroll taxes to fund FICA-related trust programs – not general revenue for the
operating functions of the Federal Government. To fill this gap, this model
suggests raising payroll taxes accordingly alongside honest and effective

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investigations into why American public healthcare problems are so exorbitantly

overpriced compared to their counterparts abroad. (Hint: it’s drug + insurance
lobbies, along with oppressive medical school costs). For other federal accounting
we will focus on three key areas: defense spending, discretionary spending, and
additional revenue, and proceed in that order.

Defense spending. One of the most surprising aspects of the federal budget is
how many expenditures outside of the “defense budget” are actually exclusively
defense-related costs. For example:

• Veterans affairs, at $186.5 billion for FY2018, is paid out of the

discretionary budget.627

• Military retiree pay, at $54.7 billion for FY2018, is paid out of the
discretionary budget.628

• Several other defense-related expenditures ($10.6 billion for nuclear

weapons629, $44.1 billion for the Department of Homeland Security630
(which includes Coast Guard and is indisputably a “defense-oriented”
expenditure), clandestine intelligence operations ($81+ billion)631, and
foreign military assistance are all paid for out of the discretionary budget.

• Of the $325 billion in national debt interest payments for FY2018 (the total
debt of which is $23 trillion), at least 26% is due from the $6.3 trillion the
U.S. government has borrowed to fund wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.632
The nonprofit War Resisters League estimates that war costs comprise as
much as 80% of our national debt, although it acknowledges most sources
estimate the figure to be approximately half.633 We will assume a figure of
50% in this analysis, arriving at $162.5 billion.

This would come to a total of an additional $539.4 billion in defense-related costs

that are billed as “non-defense.” Therefore, our total “defense” spending is
actually about $1.163 trillion, not the ~$623 billion it’s annually billed as.

Conventional wisdom frequently touches on how much more our nation spends
on “defense” compared to the rest of the world – exceeding the total of the next
eight nations combined, even though we count six of the eight as allies.

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Yet this figure only counts our stated defense spending, whereas our total
spending is nearly twice that. This model suggests that investing in a framework
that dramatically reduces the underlying need for a global military empire is a far
wiser expenditure than wasting endless trillions on military technologies that
eventually become obsolete as future conflicts evolve. Consequently, this model
assumes that through a mixture of honest accounting, scaling down the mandate
and global scope of our military – and ensuring all military costs are paid through
the defense budget – we could be able to pare off $350 billion annually from our
$1.163 trillion annual military expenditure (a 30% reduction that would still make
us spend more than the next eight nations combined).

Subtotal savings from total military spending: $350 billion.

Discretionary spending. While much of the discretionary budget are actually

military-related expenditures, valid concerns remain about the scale of
redundancy within federal bureaucracy. This writing does not maintain an
ideological position on the scope of the Federal Government, yet it does suggest
addressing manifestations of operational and organizational lapses through
redundant services. For example:

• There are at least 65 agencies empowered with enforcing various aspects

of federal law.634

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• There are more than 451 independent federal agencies tasked with
various aspects of societal management with the power to independently
enact regulations across all areas of our society.635

• There are seventeen independent intelligence agencies within the United

States Intelligence Community.636

In mention, it’s important to emphasize that this isn’t an indictment of the

functions of government, the use of regulation, or the need for intelligence.
Rather, the concern is that these agencies serve functions that are a)
independently operated, b) redundant in focus, and c) largely shared by
counterparts at the state level. This, in aggregate, presents an amplified cost basis
for their functions that make the discretionary functions of government cost much
more than they would need to if a streamlined approach between federal and
state services were facilitated.

Indeed, the aggregate sum of the discretionary spending of the Federal

Government, at some $6.3 trillion per decade, is effectively the cost of
implementing Universal Energy in entirety. It’s difficult to see how that has
delivered a comparable social value.

This model suggests that through bureaucratic restructuring to consolidate

functions and reduce redundancy, end socially harmful and wasteful programs
like the “War on Drugs” and place greater reliance on partnerships with agencies
at the state level, that we could reduce the discretionary spending of the Federal
Government by approximately 25%. This would raise a total of $159.75 billion.

Additional revenue. While this writing (and I as an author) remain politically

nonpartisan, I should state for the record that I believe that our current state of
taxation is neither fair nor of high value, considering what we actually get for our
tax dollar. It's not a question of preferring high or low taxes, it's a question of what
value we obtain per tax dollar spent.

However, if we are going to make an honest attempt to both reallocate our federal
spending towards more socially beneficial focuses and pare down our national
debt, the concept of increasing certain taxes is worth considering in abstract. Yet
in doing so, this model will not focus on income taxes directly, and instead will
seek to raise revenue through additional sales on tobacco, alcohol, marijuana
(legalized) and luxury goods. Here’s how this could look:

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Vice excise taxes: the federal cigarette tax today is $1.01 per pack, and brings in $14
billion for the federal government.637

The federal tax on alcohol is $13.50 per proof-gallon of distilled spirits (roughly 21
cents per ounce of alcohol), $18 per barrel of beer (roughly 10 cents per ounce), and
$1.07 per gallon of wine (roughly 8 cents per ounce).638 These taxes collect
approximately $10 billion per year for the federal government.

As marijuana is illegal on the federal level, the federal government does not collect
a tax on its illicit sales, although the tax revenue raised in states it has been legalized
are significant (roughly $1 billion for FY2018).639

Cognizant of these figures, this model would suggest considering the following
excise tax increases:

• Increasing federal tobacco taxes by 300%, raising a total of $42 billion per
year (assuming consistent demand).

• Alcohol, in all forms, would be taxed per proof gallon, which is the method
proposed by the Congressional Budget Office. Recommending a flat tax of
$16 per proof gallon, they concluded that such a tax would equal about 25
cents per ounce of alcohol (29.57ml).640 This tax increase was estimated to net
an additional $9 billion per year to total $19 billion on all alcohol sales taxes.
As with tobacco, this model would suggest a 300% increase, arriving at a tax
of $48 per proof gallon. Assuming consistent demand and sales volume, this
would raise $57 billion annually.

• Marijuana would be made completely legal in this model and would be

taxed and in the same capacity as alcohol and tobacco. Current sales models
are difficult to predict because marijuana is presently classified as an illegal
narcotic. Yet a 2005 report endorsed by more than 50 distinguished
economists (including Milton Friedman) concluded that legalizing
marijuana would save $13.7 billion in enforcement / prosecution /
incarceration costs, while approximately $34.3 billion would be yielded by
tax revenue of its nationwide sale.641 This would come to a total of $48 billion.

Luxury excise tax: this model would also suggest the possibility of modest taxes on
high-end luxury items under the reasoning that if one is wealthy enough to afford
a private jet, exotic sports car or luxury yacht, a 10% tax increase would not be a

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prohibitively difficult expenditure. The U.S. luxury goods market in 2018 was $191.8
billion. A 10% tax of that sum would net $19.1 billion.

Potential total raised through vice + luxury taxes: $166.1 billion.

Revenue Totals

Based on these proposed measures, we arrive to the following subtotals:

• A 30% reduction in total military spending would net $350 billion.

• A 25% reduction in discretionary spending would net $159.75 billion.

• Increased excise taxes on alcohol and tobacco, along with new excise taxes
on marijuana and luxury goods would net $166.1 billion.

These measures, in total, would net $675 billion annually, which would be
sufficient to fund Universal Energy in its current form for 10 years, which
thereafter could be used to pay off our national debt.

Considering that this sum is merely half of our total military spending over the
past decade, 15% of our total federal spending over the past decade, and less than
5% of our annual Gross Domestic Product, it’s a small price to pay for a world
without resource scarcity, resource conflict, climate change and the endless
maladies brought by scarcity and the zero-sum games – and corresponding
conflicts – it fuels.

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A4: Universal Energy Cost

Estimate

Universal Energy is modular by design. Each of its technologies can have the
capability to connect to one another in any configuration desirable, thus any
realistic cost estimate will be determinant on the ultimate nature of configuration.
For sake of argument in providing a baseline figure, this model will make several
assumptions about the scale and nature of implementation, cognizant of the
implementation strategy for public resources and proposed legal and social
mechanisms we reviewed earlier in the Appendix. Due to the nature of the
assumptions required to make such an estimate, this model will be more
generalized in approach as opposed to seeking exact estimates that could shift
based on future circumstances, but we’ll try to be as reliable as possible based on
the factual data at hand, and seek further to overestimate than come up short.

Further, as electricity generation in most contexts is denoted in kilowatt-hours,

we will use the kilowatt / kilowatt-hour unit respectively for power and energy
generating capacity in this estimate. Proceeding forward, this estimate is broken
into two distinct areas: electricity generation and resource production, which
we’ll cover in that order.

ELECTRICITY GENERATION

The United States currently consumes 4.17 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity

annually as of 2018 (4,171 terawatt-hours).642 The initial goal of Universal Energy
is to provide 300% of our national electricity consumption, which would
be roughly 12.5 trillion kilowatt-hours (12,500 terawatt-hours).

If we were to leave our current capacity intact (and gradually phase out old power
systems, starting with the oldest and dirtiest first), Universal Energy would
initially need to generate 8.34 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity. This figure
can and should scale over time, but it functions as a sufficient target for now.

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Further, this estimate will also include the necessary infrastructure to produce
sufficient fuel, water and food to provide for our respective needs, as well as
desalinate sufficient water to store sufficient energy in the National Aqueduct to
comprise its battery and power-generating functions. These estimates will be
assessed as a separate consideration on top of electricity generation within the
resource production section.

Lastly, while this estimate will make assumptions about the nature of Universal
Energy’s implementation, it’s important to note that we will be minimizing
assumptions of future cost reductions as investment in Universal Energy’s
technologies expands. This price estimate, consequently, will be based on the
estimated price today in “overnight costs” – the cost of the construction if it were
purchased and deployed as a standalone unit. It will not assess cost reductions
over time through improvements in manufacturing, lowered energy costs,
subsidies or levelized costs – costs incurred and offset by revenue earned over the
lifetime of an energy-generating asset.

This latter consideration is especially important, as levelized costs assume cost-

mitigating factors such as energy sales in a commercial market, future subsidies,
and, especially in the case of renewables, the application costs of continuous
operation (of which renewables, especially solar, have less of than power sources
that require fuel and active maintenance of moving parts). A $100,000 solar array,
for instance, might cost $100,000 to buy and deploy, but when considering the
benefit of its generated energy that doesn’t require fuel to be purchased, lack of
maintenance, etc., the levelized cost of that solar array may be far less over its
lifetime. It’s not so much of an accounting “trick” as it is a view of long-term
accounting, but its functional result is to put cost figures in perspective, and,
ultimately make them appear less than they would be if we were only considering
the retail sales price of the technology. This estimate will forgo levelized cost
estimates and simply look to the “sticker price” (overnight cost) of a technology
as it exists today, and it will do so based on three reasons:

1. The goal of Universal Energy is to make energy and resources as

inexpensive as possible – its 2 cents per kilowatt-hour target is roughly
85% lower than the commercial price of energy today, so levelized costs
as assessed today would not be viable with such a dramatic reduction in
energy costs.

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2. Levelized cost estimates use myriad factors and assumptions ranging

from the average commercial price of energy, subsidies and tax
incentives, cost of labor, cost of materials and estimated operational
lifetime – all of which vary wildly by region. Levelized costs, therefore,
include several moving parts that are difficult and complex to assess on a
nationwide scale. Further, they don’t incorporate the possibility of new
technologies. (The levelized cost of solar, for instance, doesn’t incorporate
municipal integration. The levelized cost of nuclear, further, is based on
light-water reactors, and doesn’t incorporate the emergence of new
technologies such as thorium).

3. Levelized costs, finally, are assessed to show how much a technology

costs over time, which spreads the cost of energy over that time period.
This estimate seeks to focus on what it would cost to implement Universal
Energy today – “sticker shock” and all – because it is the investment in
the technologies, themselves, and their accompanying infrastructure that
solves resource scarcity and climate change. The focus isn’t on a capital
investment that seeks a capital return (although it will ultimately do so),
the focus, rather, is on a capital investment that seeks a social return – we
get a future that’s not dominated by resource conflict, ecological collapse
and all of the humanitarian and environmental crises they spawn. This
factor, along with the others aforementioned, make levelized costs less
appropriate for inclusion in this estimate.

With this clarified, we’ll proceed from here to review Universal Energy’s cost
estimate in full. As the ultimate appropriateness of each of the energy-generating
technologies will vary based on geographical region, proximity to coastlines,
highways and cities, we will break this estimate down in terms of units of 100
billion kilowatt-hours generated per year, roughly 1/85th of Universal Energy’s
foundational target.

We will refer to this 100 billion kilowatt-hour figure as an “Energy Unit,” which
broken down on a daily basis, comprises 273.97 million kilowatt-hours generated
per-day over a 365-day year.

With this established, we’ll start our analysis with renewables.

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Integrated Renewables

The key strategy of renewables within Universal Energy is municipal integration,

as it avoids the highly expensive requirement of large-scale land purchases,
especially in urban environments (where land is most scarce and most expensive).
Most renewable advocates ignore this cost factor when making estimates, which
while normally disingenuous is less of a concern for our purposes here. That
makes baseline renewable estimates valid for use in this context.

Solar Power: According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory,643 the

benchmark cost of commercial solar implementation can be as low as $1.44 per
watt for a fixed-tilt utility-scale system exceeding 2 megawatts in size (alternating
current). Because we are seeking implementation in municipal infrastructure and
not buying land, we will assume this figure for benchmark cost estimates. In
doing so, we’ll also be referring to our prior assumptions on made on page 52:

• An average of five peak sun hours per day in the U.S.

• One square foot of solar generates 18.7 watts under peak sun. That’s 18.7
watt-hours per hour, 82.9 watt-hours per day, and 30 kilowatt-hours every
year.

• One square meter of solar generates 201.28 watts under peak sun. That’s
201.28 watt-hours per hour, 1,006.4 watt-hours per day, and 367.3
kilowatt-hours every year.

• At $1.44 per watt, one square foot of solar panels would cost $26.93. One
square meter would cost $289.84.

A 100 billion kilowatt-hours per year Energy Unit translates to 273.97 million
kilowatt-hours per day, or 273.97 billion watt-hours. Divided by 82.9 watt-hours
per square foot of solar panel surface, and that comes to 3.3 billion square feet of
solar panels (118.5 square miles / 306.91 square km). At a cost of $26.93 per square
foot, that translates to $88.87 billion.

Total cost: $88.87 billion per 100 billion kilowatt-hour Energy Unit.

Wind Power: The nominal, non-levelized cost of wind power in the United States
is estimated to be between $750-$950 per kilowatt of power-generating capacity,
with a non-levelized cost of $0.07 per kilowatt-hour generated.644 This figure,

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ostensibly, excludes the cost of land purchase, wiring and grid connection, which
would present significant externalities on top of equipment purchases. While this
estimate places greater emphasis on the promise of solar power within
renewables (due to myriad factors ranging from limited locational deployment,
unique impact on migratory wildlife, potential fire risks and damage during
storms), its promise is nonetheless substantial in certain instances – all the more
so if looked to as a supplemental energy source that’s connected to the National
Aqueduct or integrated within highway medians.

Assuming a figure reflecting the average cost of implementation (splitting the

difference to arrive at $850 per kilowatt of power-generating capacity), we’ll make
the following assumptions when coming to a cost basis for wind power.

• Capacity factor is the actual output of a power source over a period of time
as a proportion of the turbine’s maximum capacity. For example: if a 1-
megawatt turbine generates power at an average of 0.3 megawatts, its
capacity factor is 30%. According to the Energy Information
Administration, the average capacity factor for wind is approximately
34.6% for 2018.645

• To derive a 100 billion kilowatt-hour annual Energy Unit, we would need

to generate 273.97 million kilowatt-hours per day.

Assuming the EIA’s average capacity factor of 34.6% for wind turbines, we would
need a daily energy-generating capacity of 790 million kilowatt-hours. Broken
down over a 24-hour day, that’s a power generating capacity of 32.91 million
kilowatts per-hour.

At a cost of $850 per kilowatt generating capacity, that would cost $27.97 billion
per 100 billion kilowatt-hour Energy Unit.

Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors

According to Robert Hargraves, author of Thorium, Energy Cheaper than Coal and
a foremost expert on thorium energy, the cost of a 100-megawatt reactor
is estimated to run $200 million.646 This figure assesses end-unit manufacturing
cost, pre-learning ratio (reductions in manufacturing costs every time the number
of manufactured units doubles, due to process improvements, gleaned expertise,

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etc.). Naturally, this figure would differ in actual implementation as reactor cost
would hinge on myriad factors: scalable generating capacity, non-included cost
reductions in mass-manufacturing, regulatory requirements and ultimate
funding sources, but it’s an empirical baseline figure to begin our cost assessment.

Although LFTRs are more efficient than traditional nuclear reactors, we won’t
assess a higher operating capacity than the 92.5% of traditional nuclear power,647
and include that figure for our estimations here. That would mean a 100-
megawatt LFTR would generate 92,500 kilowatt-hours per hour (92.5 megawatt-
hours). That translates to 2.22 million kilowatt-hours generated per day (810.3
million kilowatt-hours per year).

Sticking to our daily figure for sake of consistency, generating 273.97 million
kilowatt hours per day would require 124 LFTRs. At a cost of $200 million per
100-megawatt reactor, that would come to a total of $24.68 billion per 100 billion
kilowatt-hour Energy Unit.

The National Aqueduct

The National Aqueduct's electricity generation is comprised of three functions:

internal turbines within pipelines, solar panels on top of pipeline arrays and hot
water inside pipelines that itself has high potential for generating thermoelectric
energy. As this system does not currently exist (outside of Lucid Energy’s
pipelines that, to date, do not have publicly released pricing models and do not
come with integrated solar or thermoelectric functions), we'll refer to currently
existing systems as starting points to derive cost estimates.

In doing so, we'll assume that the non-solarized aspects of the pipeline would cost
similar to the largest oil pipelines today. According to the Oil and Gas Journal, oil
pipelines cost an average of $6.5 million per mile to construct.648

This cost basis is broken down into four categories:

• Material - $894,139/mile. (13.62%)

• Labor - $2,781,619/mile. (42.36%)
• Miscellaneous - $2,547,600/mile.* (38.79%)
• ROW (Right of Way) and damages - $343,850/mile. (5.24%)

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*'Miscellaneous' is defined as "Surveying, engineering, supervision,

administration and overhead, regulatory filing fees, allowances for funds used
during construction," which we'll presume includes land purchases alongside
right-of-way (ROW) expenses.

With these costs in mind, we'll be making a few assumptions, mindful of the fact
that National Aqueduct pipelines would be factory prefabricated, land wouldn't
need to be purchased (as pipelines would be installed on publicly owned roads
or under high voltage power lines) and regulatory approval would be
streamlined. Cognizant of this, we will assume:

• That materials for the National Aqueduct will cost four times higher than
for oil pipelines, as pipelines would include in-pipeline turbines +
thermoelectric generators. That translates to an estimated $3.57
million/mile for material costs. This figure does not include the cost of solar
panels.

• That labor for the National Aqueduct will cost half of oil pipelines as all
aspects of the system would be factory prefabricated, coming to an
estimated $1.39 million/mile.

• That miscellaneous costs would be half that of oil pipelines for the
reasons listed above, coming to $1.2 million/mile.

• That Right of Way/Damages would not be present as well as the

government wouldn't need to make right-of-way costs and factory
prefabrication would dramatically reduce the number of damaged units
compared to ad-hoc construction.

Combined, this provides an assumed cost estimate of $6.16 million/mile to

construct National Aqueduct pipelines before solar panels are added (the cost of
which was assessed above as $26.93 / square foot, or $289.84 per square meter).

With that established, let's determine how many miles of pipeline arrays we
would conceptually require.

The U.S. consumes a total of 2,842 cubic meters of water per-person, per year,
coming to 243.25 trillion gallons (920.8 billion cubic meters) across a society of 324

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million people.649 On a per-day basis, that comes to 667 billion gallons (2.53 billion
cubic meters).

For initial deployment we will estimate that the National Aqueduct will store
slightly less than one half of that daily volume of water (300 billion gallons – 1.135
billion cubic meters) at any given moment in time. 180 billion gallons (60%) would
be stored in pipeline arrays, with the rest in storage tanks (681.36 billion cubic
meters). The system would be constantly resupplied thereafter through coastal
CHP Plants.

Based on these figures, we'll start our assessment first with cost, and then shift
focus to calculating output.

Cost of Pipelines:

The volume of a 24" pipe is 23.5 gallons for every one foot of pipe, which
translates to 124,080 gallons for every mile of pipeline650 or 1.11 million gallons
for an array of nine. (2,626 cubic meters per kilometer). If 180 billion gallons are
stored in pipelines, that would require us to have 161,186 miles (259,404 km) of
pipelines. (Assembled in arrays of six, that figure would drop to 26,864 miles
(43,233 km)).

As each pipeline is estimated to run $6.16 million per mile, that span would
cost $996 billion.

Cost of Storage:

Current estimates for commercial water tanks today come to around $1 per
gallon651 ($264.17 per cubic meter). However, National Aqueduct water storage
tanks would differ from commercial storage tanks today in terms of insulation
and electric UV sterilization, so we’ll assess a 40% higher end-unit cost. This
would come to roughly $1.40 per gallon ($369.84 per cubic meter).

As 60% of the 300 billion gallons within the National Aqueduct would be within
pipeline arrays, the remaining water placed in storage would be 120 billion
gallons (454.25 million cubic meters). At $1.40 per gallon, that comes to $168
billion.

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Control:

As the National Aqueduct does not conceptually exist outside of this writing,
effectively determining what it would cost to build the control component is
prohibitively difficult. As such, we'll assume the cost of the control system and
infrastructure would be $30 billion.

This would leave a non-solarized subtotal cost of $1.194 trillion.

With that established, we'll shift towards potential electricity generation.

Electricity due to internal water flow: according to Lucid Energy, a 24" pipe
generates 18 kilowatts of power per-turbine with a flow rate of 24 million gallons
per day652 (90,849 cubic meters). Assuming a constant flow rate, over a 24-hour
day, that comes to 423 kilowatt-hours generated per-turbine, per-day.

Lucid Energy’s data suggests that maximum hydroelectric efficiency is turbine

placement every 14 feet.653 Over a pipeline span of 161,186 miles (259,404 km), that
would involve use of 60.79 million turbines. At 423 kilowatt-hours generated per-
turbine, per-day, with a 24 million gallon per day flow (90,849 cubic meters), this
would come to 2.57 billion kilowatt-hours generated per day, or 938.5 billion
kilowatt-hours generated per year. It’s notable that the ultimate flow of the
National Aqueduct would be significantly higher than 24 million gallons per day
across the entire system, but we’ll use this lower figure as a relative benchmark
for electricity generation.

Electricity due to pipeline-mounted solar panels: We assessed earlier that solar

panels generate 82.9 watt-hours per day, per square foot, at a cost of $26.93 per
square foot (1,006.4 watt-hours per day, per square meter, at a cost of $289.84 per
square meter). If pipelines were deployed in arrays of six (three on top of three),
each 24” pipeline, assuming even spacing of about a foot and a half, would
comprise 10 feet (3 meters).

10 feet, by a span distance of 26,864 miles, comes to a surface area of 1.418 billion
square feet (131.73 million square meters). At 82.9 watt-hours per day, this would
generate 117.6 million kilowatt-hours per day, or 42.92 billion kilowatt-hours
per year, at an additional cost of cost of $38.2 billion.

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Electricity due to hot water inside pipelines: To assess the potential energy in
the hot water inside pipeline arrays and storage tanks, we'll base our calculations
on the following assumptions: that the 300 billion gallons (1.135 billion cubic
meters) stored in the National Aqueduct would be heated to 200 °F (94 °C ), with
a national average outside temperature of 55.7 °F (13.16 °C).654

According to Marlow Engineering, a leader in thermoelectric generating products

for placement over hot pipelines, their 12” Powerstrap Generator outputs
approximately 3 watts of power with a temperature differential of 94 °C to 13
°C.655 Their 24” model does not have output figures available, but as their 12”
model is roughly twice as powerful as their 6” model, we will assume their 24”
model outputs roughly 6 watts of power at any given moment in time. As this
system would operate 24 hours per day, we will assume each thermoelectric
generator would output 144 watts per day, or 52.56 kilowatt-hours per year.
Assuming further that we placed such thermoelectric generators in arrays of three
(the maximum such units can operate in parallel),656 each array would come to
432 watts per day, or 157.68 kilowatt-hours per year.

If these arrays of three were placed in between hydroelectric turbines (every 14

feet), we would employ the same number of thermoelectric arrays as
hydroelectric turbines (60.79 million). This would translate to an output of 26.26
million kilowatt-hours per day, or 9.59 billion kilowatt-hours per year.

National Aqueduct Subtotals:

• Cost of system: $1.232 trillion (including solar).

• Total electricity output: 991 billion kilowatt-hours per year (2.715 billion
kilowatt-hours per day).

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Energy Unit Breakdown

Based on the analysis and assumptions made earlier, the electricity totals for
Universal Energy are as follows. (One Energy Unit equals 100 billion kilowatt-
hours generated annually).

• Integrated solar: $88.87 billion per Energy Unit

• Integrated wind: $27.87 billion per Energy Unit

• Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors: $24.68 billion per Energy Unit

• The National Aqueduct: $1.232 trillion, with annual energy generation

output of 991 billion kilowatt-hours

Electricity Breakdown

In order to generate 8.34 trillion kilowatt-hours annually, we will make the

following cost and deployment breakdown of Universal Energy’s technologies.
As mentioned previously, Universal Energy is modular by design, and can
comprise most any configuration desirable. In this estimate, we will assume a
total implementation of the National Aqueduct, which at 991 billion kilowatt-
hours annually generated, leaves a remaining total of 7.35 trillion kilowatt-hours.

Of this remainder, half (3.68 trillion kilowatt-hours) would be provided by a

backbone of LFTRs. The other half (3.68 trillion kilowatt-hours) would be
comprised of solar (70% - 2.575 trillion kilowatt-hours) and wind (30% - 1.1 trillion
kilowatt-hours).

Here’s what that cost structure looks like:

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Technology Energy Energy Annual Total Cost

Units Unit Cost Output

National N/A N/A 991 billion $1.232

Aqueduct kilowatt-hours trillion

LFTRs 36.8 $24.68 3.68 trillion $908.25

billion kilowatt-hours billion

Integrated 25.75 $88.87 2.575 trillion $2.288.4

Solar billion kilowatt-hours trillion

Integrated 11.03 $27.97 1.103 trillion $308.5

wind billion kilowatt-hours billion

Total Electricity Generation: 8.34 trillion kilowatt-hours

Total Electricity Infrastructure Cost: $4.74 trillion

Resource Production

After covering the cost of electricity generation, we'll shift gears to the systems
that synthesize water and fuel. In doing so, we won't be estimating their
implementation in greater CHP Plants (which would be an ideal approach). This
is because cost figures for CHP Plants are not yet present. Instead, we’ll estimate
the cost of building these systems on a standalone basis (with the exception of
water desalination facilities without internal power plants) – even though this
would translate to higher costs in this estimate.

As commercial resources, food and materials are not included in this estimate as
the technical bar for implementation is far lower with Universal Energy’s
infrastructure in place. Additionally, their cost depends wholly on scale and
sophistication, respectively, of the agricultural setup and material being
produced.

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Seawater Desalination

Most modern desalination facilities today are in the Middle East. Although they
are capable of desalinating immense volumes of seawater, they generally are
paired with internal power plants. This makes their construction significantly
more expensive than desalination facilities would be within CHP Plants and
makes it a bit tougher to determine standalone costs by themselves.

As the backbone of Universal Energy’s desalination efforts is comprised of LFTRs,

desalination facilities wouldn't need their own external power infrastructure in
this model – nor would they need to consume as much additional energy. The
non-radioactive heat exchangers of LFTRs should easily present sufficient
cogenerative energy to desalinate seawater on a large scale, with low
requirements for additional energy. Because of this, desalination plants will cost
far less in the Universal Energy framework than they do today. However, we’ll
still need to make a few more assumptions to come to a realistic cost estimate. In
doing so, we’ll look to some of the larger desalination facilities operating today:

• The largest desalination facility in the world is currently the Ras Al Khair
Plant in Saudi Arabia.657 It has the capacity to produce 270.8 million
gallons of water per day (1.025 million cubic meters) via both multistage
flash and reverse osmosis. That translates to 98.8 billion gallons of water
per year (375 million cubic meters).658 It cost $7.2 billion to construct, and
is also a 2,400 megawatt power plant.659

• The Jebel Ali facility in the United Arab Emirates outputs 140 million
gallons of water per day via multistage flash distillation (530,000 cubic
meters).660 That translates to 51.1 billion gallons a year (193.4 million cubic
meters). The facility cost $2.72 billion to construct, and is also a 1,400
megawatt power station.661

• The Fujairah power and desalination plant in the United Arab Emirates
cost $1.2 billion to construct. It generates 656 megawatts of power and
outputs 100 million gallons of water per day (378,500 cubic meters). Over
a year, that comes to 36.5 billion gallons a year (138.17 million cubic
meters).662

As noted above, an important component to using these facilities to create a cost

estimate is the presence of power generation. The Fujairah facility only cost $1.2

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billion to construct whereas Ras Al Khair cost $7.2 billion – but Ras Al Khair has
a 2,400-megawatt generator that powers the facility and Fujairah's power plant
only outputs 656 megawatts. The power generating potential of Ras Al Khair is
nearly four times higher, but in terms of seawater desalination (270 million gallons
daily versus 100 million), its output is only 2.7 times higher. As Universal Energy's
desalination facilities would come paired with LFTRs, our cost estimate must
separate out the cost of traditional power generation.

To do so, we'll head over to the Energy Information Administration to get a

general idea of the construction costs of a power plant.663

According to the EIA, a Natural Gas-fired Combined Cycle power plant (Adv
Gas/Oil Comb Cycle CC) has an overnight cost of $1,080 per kilowatt for a 429
megawatt variant.664 That means a 429 megawatt power plant would cost $463.2
million to construct, or roughly $1.08 million per megawatt.665

While construction costs likely vary in the Middle East, we'll nonetheless stick to
this cost figure in the absence of more reliably specific data. Additionally, as the
Ras Al Khair facility is both multistage flash and reverse osmosis
(disproportionally increasing its cost), whereas Jebel Ali and Fujairah are strictly
multistage flash, we'll only use Jebel Ali and Fujairah to estimate what a
standalone desalination facility would cost if it didn't include a power plant.

Jebel Ali: $2.72 billion to construct with a 1,400-megawatt power station. Annual
output: 51.1 billion gallons (193.4 million cubic meters).

At $1.08 million per megawatt, we'll estimate that $1.51 billion of the construction
cost was for power generation. This would bring the estimated construction cost,
sans-power, to $1.2 billion.

Desalination costs for one year of output: $0.023 per gallon / $6.20 per cubic
meter.

Fujairah facility: $1.2 billion to construct with a 656-megawatt power station.

Annual output: 36.5 billion gallons (138.17 million cubic meters)

At $1.08 million per megawatt, we'll estimate that $709 million of the construction
cost was for power generation. This would bring the estimated construction cost,
sans-power, to $493 million.

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Desalination costs for one year of output: $0.013 per gallon / $3.67 per cubic
meter.

Averaging these together, that comes to $0.018 to desalinate a gallon of water

and $4.94 for a cubic meter.

We determined earlier that as the U.S. consumes 239.5 trillion gallons per year
(920.8 billion cubic meters), which translates to 667 billion gallons of water per
day. The National Aqueduct is intended to hold slightly less than half of that
figure at any given moment in time (300 billion gallons), with 180 billion gallons
(60%) in pipeline arrays, and the rest (40%) in storage tanks.

To ensure maximum effectiveness, we will assume an implementation capability

sufficient to refill the National Aqueduct’s capacity in full, twice over (600 billion
gallons). At a price of 1.8 cents per gallon, constructing facilities with a capacity
to desalinate 600 billion gallons of seawater would come to an estimated cost of
$10.8 billion.

Hydrogen production

Analysts from the Department of Energy666 estimate that hydrogen can be

produced (factory gate price667) by way of water electrolysis for $3 per kilogram
of contained hydrogen, at an energy price of $0.045 (4.5 cents) per kilowatt-hour.

As hydrogen's role in the Universal Energy framework is to produce fuel, we'll

look at our domestic gasoline usage as a metric as opposed to overall petroleum
consumption (which would still be helpful for lubricants and other synthetic
materials). According to the Energy Information Administration, the
U.S. consumed 142.86 billion gallons of gasoline in 2018.668 Although this model
envisions the majority of cars migrating to electric due to Universal Energy's
material advancements, we'll still assess the cost of what it would take to have
hydrogen replace gasoline in our society in terms of production.

As hydrogen production via electrolysis is measured in kilograms, we'll use

specific energy to calculate our comparison.

Gasoline has a specific energy of 46.4 megajoules per kilogram.669 One gallon of
gasoline has a mass of roughly 2.8 kilograms. As such, 140.43 billion gallons of

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gasoline would have a mass of 393.2 billion kilograms. At 46.4 megajoules per
kilogram, that comes to 8.47 billion megajoules.

Compressed hydrogen has a specific energy of 142 megajoules per kilogram.670 To

produce 8.47 billion megajoules of energy through hydrogen, we'd need 57.6
million kilograms of compressed hydrogen on an annual basis.

According to the Department of Energy, a hydrogen production facility today

with an output of 50,000 kilograms of compressed hydrogen per day has a cost of
$900 per kilowatt of system energy with a multiplier factor cost of 1.12 for
installation, coming to $1,008 per kilowatt of system energy.671 A 50,000 kilogram
per day plant has a system energy of 113,125 kilowatts, which would make its
estimated capital cost $114 million.

Dividing $114 million by 50,000 kilograms daily output, we'll assess that the
capital costs of a hydrogen production plant are $2,280 per kilogram of daily
production capability. As the United States would need 57.6 million kilograms of
compressed hydrogen to replace gasoline in our society, at $2,280 per kilogram of
daily production capacity, that comes to $131.33 billion.

Cost of Labor

Although labor cost was already included in the National Aqueduct’s price
estimate of $1.232 trillion, there are significant considerations that need to be
given to the labor forces inherent to Universal Energy’s implementation. These
occur not only in terms of raw cost, but also the long-term management and
upgrades as part of a long-term shift towards an advanced energy economy. In
one vein of thinking, it would be of course possible to utilize the ranks of our
uniformed service members and leverage their manpower and logistical expertise
to build systems that actually present an effective defense against the underlying
causes of conflict. Another vein of thinking would bear mention of the need to
train larger segments of our workforce towards an advanced-manufacturing
economy, which generates tangible wealth far more than service-based
occupations. Another still might leverage the technically literate students/recent
graduates of universities and trade schools as a primary option.

All of these approaches are valid, and each present unique options across the wide
spectrum of vocational opportunities made possible by an investment in
Universal Energy and the upgrades it installs on our economic foundations. As

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touched on within the Collective Capitalism section of this Appendix, an

investment in such technologies on the scale proposed will create a tremendous
demand for jobs across nearly every economic sector we have, which further does
the same for all of the educational, support and sub-supporting positions that
increase a collective quality of life for all of the above.

Rather than estimate the nuanced specifics of how much this labor would cost (as
nearly all of it would hinge on assumptions), we’ll instead take a more general
approach and estimate labor costs as a percentage of the total framework.
Recognizing that labor costs are already included within the “overnight costs” of
each of the systems described herein, we’ll estimate that the residual labor costs
for all aspects of installation and management for the initial scale of
implementation will come to 30% of the total estimated $5 trillion “overnight”
price tag for Universal Energy. This comes to a total estimated labor cost of $1.5
trillion.

GRAND TOTALS

Electricity generation and $4.74 trillion for systems that

National Aqueduct annually generate 8.34 trillion
kilowatt-hours.

Cost of seawater desalination: $10.8 billion

Cost of hydrogen production $131.33 billion

Cost overrun buffer (5%) $250 billion

Estimated costs of labor $1.5 trillion

Grand Total: $6.63 trillion

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Why this cost estimate is high

As this estimate hinged on several assumptions, care was taken to minimize any
assumed reductions in future costs that would almost certainly be present once
Universal Energy was implemented. The cost of any system at scale always costs
less than the overnight cost, all the more so with systems implemented on a
massive scale. There are several additional factors that would drive costs down
even lower.

Learning Ratio: As we saw in Chapter Four (and elsewhere in this writing)

learning ratio is the applied concept of 'learning by doing,' which means price
reductions come through learned efficiencies and experience by building systems.
The 'ratio' aspect of it is the reduction in price every time the number of produced
units doubles. If it's a 10% ratio after the 100th produced unit, unit number 200
would cost 10% less than unit number 100. Unit number 400 would cost 10% less
than unit number 200, and 20% less than unit number 100, and so on. If you recall
back to the original invention of computers, flat screen televisions, smartphones,
etc., the models we see today are vastly superior and less expensive than the
initial releases they evolved from. Energy technologies are no different.

Further, learning ratio applies especially in the case of Universal Energy’s because
most of the framework’s technologies are in their technical infancy and stand to
enjoy substantial improvements through greater investment and research. Their
overnight cost may be $5 trillion today, but over time – and especially with
purchase orders on scale – that figure will drop as it has in every other industry.
Yet as it's prohibitively difficult to accurately assess what these reductions might
look like in actuality, they were not incorporated in the pricing estimate.
However, in reality they would be significant.

CHP Plants: CHP Plants are the envisioned approach for large-scale
implementation of Universal Energy's power, hydrogen fuel and fresh water
resources. As they can use the waste/excess energy from one facility to power the
functions of another in the same physical footprint, the energy costs to perform
functions like water desalination and hydrogen production drop drastically. Just
as importantly, the capital expenses of constructing power plants incorporates the
cost of buying land. By building multiple systems within the same facility, the
cost of land is proportionally shared – as are the costs of construction. This would
make CHP Plants less expensive than the estimated costs to build each system
standalone.

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Energy cost reductions: Universal Energy's primary purpose is to generate an

effectively unlimited amount of energy at a low enough cost to make possible the
large-scale synthesis of critical resources and address climate change. Yet while
this is intended to solve the core, pressing problems of our civilization, it also
makes it a lot less expensive to do business and manufacture things. Energy costs
are a huge component of a company's bottom line, especially in manufacturing –
figures we assessed earlier to be hundreds of billions in aggregate.

If we're able to reach Universal Energy's target of 2 cents per kilowatt hour, that's
hundreds of billions of dollars that businesses save when building products they
take to market – systems behind Universal Energy being no exception. That's
billions of dollars that longer need to be incorporated in the per-unit delivery cost
of energy and resource production systems, which in turn presents billions of
dollars in cost savings to their large-scale purchase and implementation.

Direct energy sales: even at drastically reduced rates of 2 cents per kilowatt-hour,
the sale of 8.34 trillion kilowatt-hours returns a tidy sum – some $168.8 billion
annually, 1.68 trillion per decade. Over time, this can and will offset the costs of
Universal Energy’s infrastructure. In conjunction with foreign sales through The
Public Interest Company, this could reach a faster point of profitability as global
adoption expands.

Reduced social afflictions: Universal Energy is designed to solve resource

scarcity and climate change so that unlimited energy and resources in turn can
solve the myriad social afflictions fueled by resource scarcity. These afflictions
consume immense funds, time and concentration from our society: poverty,
crime, economic depression, failing infrastructure, lost hope, lackluster
employment and rampant drug addiction among them. All of these problems
consume huge percentages of public budgets. As dramatically reduced energy
and resource costs address these afflictions, the resources we presently devote to
their mitigation can be spared in kind – saving even more money.

With the presence of these cost reductions in practice, it is possible if not likely
that the present estimate for Universal Energy's implementation is skewed
higher. In this case, any cost savings we can obtain along the way, should this
model be implemented, would simply be "gravy" on top and allow us to increase
any scale of implementation in kind.

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A5: Citation Policy

As The Next Giant Leap covers a large scope of material that is technical in nature,
maximizing readability is of paramount importance. As such, I've opted to adopt
a citation style reflecting of that. In practice, the following citation conventions
are applied as much as possible:

Articles, data sheets, journals, whitepapers, and documents are directly

hyperlinked in their respective citation numbers, allowing easily readability.
When possible, documents are cited with page numbers directly embedded in
the URL.

For example: http://sitename.org/document_title/data.pdf#p53

In this link, p53 equals "page 53." As the "#" modifier in a URL points to a named
link, the PDF file will load fine with that URL, enabling easy retrieval of the data
in question. Further, virtual sources enable rapid “searching” via most web
browsers of PDF viewers – providing easy retrieval of relevant data points. PDF
+ virtual copies of The Next Giant Leap will have direct links in the citations.

For whitepapers and data PDFs of a short or self-explanatory nature, or where the
general facts are provided on the cover/summary/abstract, or documents
designed to provide 'general conceptual information' as opposed to a specific
factual citation, no page numbers are included in the URL structure. If you find a
citation that you believe to be 1) broken (dead link), 2) unclear, 3) misinterpreted,
please get in touch and let me know so it can be fixed.

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A6: Source policy

Mindful of the focus this writing places on general readability and accessibility of
concepts, The Next Giant Leap sources facts and data from a wide spectrum of
sources under a transparent methodology.

While hard facts and technical parameters are nigh-exclusively sourced from
objectively reputable sources (academic, public sector, industry whitepapers and
data sheets), this writing also includes supporting facts from supplemental
sources, including journalistic outlets, technical publications and, in very limited
occurrences, opinion pieces.

These supplemental sources are included for readability – a primary reason

people don't read academic journals is they're nearly impossible to read unless
one is a professional academic; my audience is the collective and thus the citation
policy of The Next Giant Leap is geared for the readability by the collective above
all else.

Consequently, this writing will approach sources under the following reasoning:

Government sources: these sources include both domestic and international

government agencies (Bureau of Labor and Statistics, Environmental Protection
Agency, United Nations, World Health Organization, etc.). This writing considers
these sources reliable and factual unless cause is presented to believe otherwise.

Scientific / technical media: these sources include media outlets dedicated to

scientific / technical research (Scientific American, National Geographic, CNET,
Wired, ARS Technica, etc.). This writing considers these sources reliable and
factual unless cause is presented to believe otherwise.

Academic sources and journals: these sources include university publications

(harvard.edu, etc.) and academic journals (Nature, etc.) and press releases by
universities. This writing considers these sources reliable and factual unless cause
is presented to believe otherwise.

Flagship journalism: these sources include mainstream news media outlets with
established pedigrees. These include Associated Press/Reuters and any news

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outlets who retain membership in the AP. This can also include other media
sources if the material is well-written and cited appropriately.

[Note: This author and writing refuses to entertain the false and disingenuous
trend of declaring legitimate media “fake news” if they print facts inconvenient
to an ideological or political narrative.]

Smaller-circulation high-brow journalism: these sources include media outlets

with a solid degree of ethical integrity in journalism, but are smaller circulation.
They include financial and industry publications, local newspapers, etc. Although
they may have an ideological slant, their ethics in journalism remains high. This
writing considers these sources reliable and factual, unless cause is presented to
believe otherwise.

Ideological mouthpieces: these sources include broadcast platforms dedicated to

a political ideology (Huffington Post, Fox News, CNN, National Review, The
Nation.) Although some of these sources often have solid reporting and analysis,
their ideological slant is severe enough to warrant their exclusion as sources in
this writing, barring a few exceptions:

• In cases where the mouthpiece publishes material of uncanny excellence

and factual support, an exception may be made, and the material may be
included in one or two citations.

• In cases where the mouthpiece publishes material contrary to its

ideological slant (Fox News supporting a traditionally liberal position or
Huffington Post supporting a traditionally conservative position), the
material may be included if it is itself well-reasoned and/or well-cited, but
these circumstances are limited and generally only pertain to background
information on social issues for ease of explanation.

• In cases where the mouthpiece is reporting in areas to which it has

demonstrated significant expertise, the material may be included in a
citation.

Barring these exceptions, ideological mouthpieces are generally excluded.

Wikipedia is cited primarily for “general background” information on concepts,

locations, overviews of systems or historical events. Although its editorial team

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has proven quite adept at ensuring adherence to facts, it's open-edit policy makes
it less desirable for direct citations of specific, novel facts. However, for general
topics and scientific concepts, it is highly effective at providing background
information for people unfamiliar with the subject material in question. For this
reason, relevant Wikipedia articles may be included in certain citations to provide
clearer context.

Think tanks are generally cited as reliable even if they have an ideological slant,
as they have demonstrated a sufficient degree of ethics when reporting. This
writing generally considers these sources reliable and factual, unless cause is
presented to believe otherwise.

Industry publications and whitepapers are material presented by organizations

with a vested commercial interest of the material they're reporting on. This
information is generally considered reliable and factual if it is itself cited and
provides calculations that can be independently verified.

Third-party blogs and statistics services: these sources include blogs like Nate
Silver's Fivethirtyeight and statistics services like Statista and Brilliantmaps (for
global population in urban environments). In the limited areas they are used, they
are considered reliable and factual, barring any reason to believe otherwise.

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A7: Retraction Policy

As The Next Giant Leap is the work of one individual, I have limited resources to
make sure every aspect of the writing maintains 100% uniformity in formatting.
Additionally, although all research was thorough and extensive, facts may change
in the future, and it’s possible certain elements of a fact were misinterpreted in
the source they were included. In the event these are brought to light, changes
will be made, but it is not feasible to issue public retractions for every change.

If you believe any information contained herein to be empirically incorrect, please

get in touch with me and I will update the material accordingly.

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A8: Copyright Policy

The purpose of The Next Giant Leap and Universal Energy is to make the world a
better place. In conveyance of the ideas and technologies therein, multiple types
of multimedia are used to help explain varied concepts, ideas, and systems.
Whenever possible, care has been taken to commission original works to describe
these nuanced details. Of works commissioned for this purpose, you are free to
use them for any purpose – commercial or otherwise – provided that their source
clearly indicates original basis for The Next Giant Leap at https://nextgiantleap.org.
You need not ask permission for their re-use; however, if you would like high-
definition images of any of the originally commissioned works used herein,
please get in contact and I will work to provide them for you.

In regards to the copyright of this work, any part may be reproduced without
permission so long as the reproduction is a) non-commercial, b) if commercial,
that such reproduction is only a segment consisting of no more than 20% of the
total commercial work and cited appropriately to https://nextgiantleap.org, AND
c) the work in cases A and B are objectively in the public interest.

Use of non-commissioned multimedia:

In certain instances, this work uses original/copyrighted imagery to help explain

concepts and ideas. This multimedia, without exception, is used in accordance
with 17 U.S. Code § 107 – Limitations on exclusive rights: fair use, also known as
“The Fair Use Doctrine,” as they are, without exception, used only once, and
further are used for purposes of public education in furtherance of the public
interest as specified under 17 U.S.C § 107.

If you are a copyright holder of any of the copyrighted works used herein and
wish to have them excluded from future use, simply get in touch with me and I
will oblige and recommission original works under my own copyright based on
original data. No intent is made to capitalize on any reserved copyright, if your
work was included, it was done so exclusively because it was of requisite quality
to help explain concepts in the public interest in accordance with the Fair Use
Doctrine.

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Special Thanks

Laura Yuan, first editor.

Emma Burns, technical artist.

Megan Tackett, confidant and critical analyst.

Scot Chrisman, cheerleader and a source of inspiration.

Amanda Jameson, second editor.

Michal Karcz, cover artist and visual powerhouse.

Kelsey Morrison, my lovely wife. Thank you deeply for your years of support.

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Cited Facts and Sources

1Smithsonian Magazine. “Greenleand lost 12.5 billion tons of ice in a single day.” 5 August,
2019. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/greenland-lost-record-breaking-125-
billion-tons-ice-single-day-180972808/

New York Times. “Iceland Mourns Loss of a Glacier by Posting a Warning About Climate
Change.” L. Holson. 19 August, 2019.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/19/world/europe/iceland-glacier-funeral.html

2BBC News: “A looming mass extinction caused by humans.” G. Vince. 1 November 2012.
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20121101-a-looming-mass-extinction

3BBC News. “Amazon Fires: Record number burning in Brazil rainforest – space agency.” 21
August, 2019. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-49415973

4Axios magazine. “By the numbers: unprecedented devastation of California’s wildfires.” A.

Freedman. 8 August, 2018. https://www.axios.com/california-wildfires-break-records-
statistics-mendocino-complex-fire-ae073d56-b170-4086-b567-2cf7c3d23fd8.html

The Atlantic Magazine. “California’s wildfires are 500 percent larger due to climate change.” R.
Meyer. 16 July, 2019. https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/07/climate-change-
500-percent-increase-california-wildfires/594016/

5BBC News. “Australia fires: a visual guide to the bushfire crisis.” 6 January, 2020.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-50951043. A point of note: several causes of
these fires were direct human action, namely felony arson. This has been pointed to as
reason to discredit climate change’s role in Australian wildfires, which is both
disingenuous and categorically false – arson, and man-caused fires have persisted for
millennia, yet the reason such fires now encompass wide swaths of the Australian
continent is because of the aggravating factors of climate change, namely drought and
hotter conditions that enable wildfires to spread faster and burn drier material.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/australia-fires-how-climate-change-has-intensified-the-
deadly-bushfires/

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6Council of Foreign Relations. “A global report on the decline of democracy.” 17 April, 2018.
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/press/2018-04-17/global-report-decline-democracy

7Washington Post. “17 ways the unprecedented migrant crisis is reshaping our world.” A.
Taylor, 20 June, 2015.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/06/20/17-ways-the-
unprecedented-migrant-crisis-is-reshaping-our-world/

8Brookings Institution. “How to combat fake news and disinformation.” D. West. 18

December, 2017. https://www.brookings.edu/research/how-to-combat-fake-news-and-
disinformation/

9“The Long Peace” is a term defining the post-WWII era of lasting peace after the defeat of
Axis powers. It was first coined by John Lewis Gaddis in the International Security journal,
Vol. 10, No. 4 (Spring, 1986), pp. 99-142. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2538951

10Union of Concerned Scientists. “North Korea, reports and multimedia.” 18 December, 2017.
https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/north-korea-basics

11At the time of this writing, the United States is either involved, or threatens to be
involved, with state-level conflict against Iran, Venezuela, and North Korea, along with
several other conflicts against non-state actors in furtherance of the “Global War on
Terror.”

Deutsche Welle. “Nicolas Maduro tells military to 'be ready' for potential US military action.” 5
May, 2019. https://p.dw.com/p/3HwPL

BBC News. “Iran attack: US Troops targeted with ballistic missiles.” 8 January, 2020.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-51028954

12Radioactive dating tells us that modern humans evolved approximately 200,000 years
ago, although some sources suggest as long as 300,000.
http://humanorigins.si.edu/human-characteristics/humans-change-world
Nature Journal. “Oldest Homo sapiens fossil claim rewrites our species' history.” E. Callaway. 7
June, 2017. https://www.nature.com/news/oldest-homo-sapiens-fossil-claim-rewrites-our-
species-history-1.22114

13Most sources estimate 1900 as having a population of just over 1.5 billion.
https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/world-population-by-year/

14U.N.: “World population projected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050.”

http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/news/population/2015-report.htm

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15Background Reading on Thomas Malthus’ Principle of Population essay.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Essay_on_the_Principle_of_Population

16Background Reading The Limits To Growth - 1972-era computer simulation of

exponential economic and population growth with a finite resource supply.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Limits_to_Growth

17U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization report. “State of the world’s forests, 2012.”
http://www.fao.org/docrep/016/i3010e/i3010e.pdf#p23,p25,p28

18BBC: “A looming mass extinction caused by humans.” G. Vince. 1 November 2012.

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20121101-a-looming-mass-extinction

The Atlantic. “It Will Take Millions of Years for Mammals to Recover From Us”. E.
19

Young. 15 October, 2018. https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/10/mammals-

will-need-millions-years-recover-us/573031/

20U.N. report: “General facts regarding world fisheries,” 24 May 2010.

http://www.un.org/depts/los/convention_agreements/reviewconf/FishStocks_EN_A.pdf

21National Geographic. “Seafood may be gone by 2048, Study Says.” J. Roach. 2

November, 2006. https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/11/061102-seafood-
threat.html

22 World Wildlife Fund. “Living Planet Report 2018: Aiming Higher” p54.

23 World Wildlife Fund. “Living Planet Report 2018: Aiming Higher” p4

24 World Wildlife Fund. “Living Planet Report 2018: Aiming Higher” p4

25The Guardian. “Humans just 0.01% of all life but have destroyed 83% of wild mammals –
study.” D. Carrington. 21 May, 2018.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/21/human-race-just-001-of-all-life-
but-has-destroyed-over-80-of-wild-mammals-study

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. “The
Biomass Distribution on Earth.” Y. Bar-On, R. Philips, R. Milo. 21 May, 2018.
https://www.pnas.org/content/115/25/6506

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26The Guardian. “Humans just 0.01% of all life but have destroyed 83% of wild mammals –
study.” D. Carrington. 21 May, 2018.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/21/human-race-just-001-of-all-life-
but-has-destroyed-over-80-of-wild-mammals-study

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. “The
Biomass Distribution on Earth.” Y. Bar-On, R. Philips, R. Milo. 21 May, 2018.
https://www.pnas.org/content/115/25/6506

27The Guardian. “Humans just 0.01% of all life but have destroyed 83% of wild mammals –
study.” D. Carrington. 21 May, 2018.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/21/human-race-just-001-of-all-life-
but-has-destroyed-over-80-of-wild-mammals-study

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. “The
Biomass Distribution on Earth.” Y. Bar-On, R. Philips, R. Milo. 21 May, 2018.
https://www.pnas.org/content/115/25/6506

28Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services

(IPBES). “Nature’s Dangerous Decline ‘Unprecedented’ Species Extinction Rates ‘Accelerating’.”
6 May, 2019. P. 3.

29Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services

(IPBES). “Nature’s Dangerous Decline ‘Unprecedented’ Species Extinction Rates ‘Accelerating’.”
6 May, 2019. P. 3.

30U.N. “Water Cooperation facts and figures.” Archived: http://www.unwater.org/water-

cooperation-2013/water-cooperation/facts-and-figures/en/

31World Health Organization. “Lack of Sanitation for 2.4 Billion People is Undermining Health
Improvements.” http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2015/jmp-report/en/.

32World Health Organization. “Lack of Sanitation for 2.4 Billion People is Undermining Health
Improvements.” http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2015/jmp-report/en/.

S. Damkjaer, R. Taylor. “The measurement of water scarcity: Defining a meaningful indicator.”

33

Ambio vol. 46,5 (2017): 513-531. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-017-0912-z

United Nations. “Water Scarcity.” https://www.unwater.org/water-facts/scarcity/

34United Nations. World Water Development Report 2015. https://www.un-

ihe.org/sites/default/files/wwdr_2015.pdf#p2.

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35Newsweek. “The Race to Buy Up the World’s Water.” J. Interlandi. 8 October, 2010.
http://www.newsweek.com/race-buy-worlds-water-73893.

36Newsweek. “The Race to Buy Up the World’s Water.” J. Interlandi. 8 October, 2010.
http://www.newsweek.com/race-buy-worlds-water-73893.

37B. Gaybullaev, C., Su-Chin. “Changes in water volume of the Aral Sea after 1960” 1
December, 2012. 10.1007/s13201-012-0048-z JO - Applied Water Science ER.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2020.104566

Background reading on the Aral Sea: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aral_Sea

38Lake Michigan has a surface area of 22,404 square miles (58,030 km3), and Lake Erie has a
volume of 116 cubic miles (480km3). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Michigan /
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Erie

39Background reading on the Aralkum Desert:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aralkum_Desert

40National Geographic. “Aral Sea’s Eastern Basin is Dry for the First Time in 600 years.” B.
Clark-Howard. 2 October, 2014.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/10/141001-aral-sea-shrinking-drought-
water-environment/

41NASA. “Study: Third of Big Groundwater Basins in Distress.” 16 June, 2015.

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4626

NASA. “Getting at groundwater with gravity.” G. Hicks. Last updated 6 January, 2020.
https://earthdata.nasa.gov/learn/sensing-our-planet/getting-at-groundwater-with-gravity

42NASA. “Study: Third of Big Groundwater Basins in Distress.” 16 June, 2015.

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4626

NASA. “Getting at groundwater with gravity.” G. Hicks. Last updated 6 January, 2020.
https://earthdata.nasa.gov/learn/sensing-our-planet/getting-at-groundwater-with-gravity

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National Geographic. “If You Think the Water Crisis Can’t Get Worse, Wait Until the
43

Aquifers are Drained.” D. Dimick. 21 August, 2014.

New York Times. “Beneath California Crops, Groundwater Crisis Grows.” J. Gillis, M. Richtel.
5 April, 2015. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/06/science/beneath-california-crops-
groundwater-crisis-grows.html?_r=0

National Geographic. “If You Think the Water Crisis Can’t Get Worse, Wait Until the
44

Aquifers are Drained.” D. Dimick. 21 August, 2014.

New York Times. “Beneath California Crops, Groundwater Crisis Grows.” J. Gillis, M. Richtel.
5 April, 2015. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/06/science/beneath-california-crops-
groundwater-crisis-grows.html?_r=0

Washington Post. “California’s Terrifying Climate Forecast: It Could Face Droughts Nearly
Every Year.” D. Fears. 2 March, 2015. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-
environment/wp/2015/03/02/californias-terrifying-forecast-in-the-future-it-could-face-
droughts-nearly-every-year/?utm_term=.2c407783c5b8

45NCAR & UCAR News Center. “Climate change: Drought may threaten much of globe
within decades.” 19 October, 2010.
http://www.cgd.ucar.edu/cas/adai/news/Dai_Drought_UCAR.htm

46NASA. “Earth’s Freshwater Future: Extremes of Flood and Drought.” 13 June, 2019.
https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2881/earths-freshwater-future-extremes-of-flood-and-
drought/

New York Times. “Rural Water, Not City Smog, May be China’s Pollution Nightmare.” C.
47

Buckley, V. Piao. 11 April, 2016. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/12/world/asia/china-

underground-water-pollution.html

South China Morning Post. “80 per cent of groundwater in China’s major river basins is unsafe
for humans, study reveals.” https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-
politics/article/1935314/80-cent-groundwater-chinas-major-river-basins-unsafe

D. Shemie, K. Vigerstol, M. Quan, et al. “China Urban Water Blueprint.” The Nature
Conservancy. 2016.
https://www.nature.org/content/dam/tnc/nature/en/documents/Urban_Water_Blueprint_R
egion_China.pdf

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New York Times. “Rural Water, Not City Smog, May be China’s Pollution Nightmare.” C.
48

Buckley, V. Piao. 11 April, 2016. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/12/world/asia/china-

underground-water-pollution.html

South China Morning Post. “80 per cent of groundwater in China’s major river basins is unsafe
for humans, study reveals.” https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-
politics/article/1935314/80-cent-groundwater-chinas-major-river-basins-unsafe

D. Shemie, K. Vigerstol, M. Quan, et al. “China Urban Water Blueprint.” The Nature
Conservancy. 2016.
https://www.nature.org/content/dam/tnc/nature/en/documents/Urban_Water_Blueprint_R
egion_China.pdf

49NASA. “NASA Satellites Unlock Secret to India’s Vanishing Water.” 12 August, 2009.
https://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/india_water.html

New York Times. “India’s Water Crisis.” Editorial board. 3 May, 2016.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/04/opinion/indias-water-crisis.html

The Guardian. “Armed guards at India’s dams as drought grips country.” A. France-Presse. 2
May, 2016. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/02/armed-guards-at-indias-
dams-as-drought-grips-country

50New York Times. “India’s Water Crisis.” Editorial board. 3 May, 2016.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/04/opinion/indias-water-crisis.html

The Guardian. “Armed guards at India’s dams as drought grips country.” A. France-Presse. 2
May, 2016. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/02/armed-guards-at-indias-
dams-as-drought-grips-country

51The Times of India. “80% of India’s Surface Water May Be Polluted, Report by International
Body Says.” S. Deyl. 28 June, 2015.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/pollution/80-of-Indias-surface-
water-may-be-polluted-report-by-international-body-says/articleshow/47848532.cms

52The Hindu. “Untreated Sewage Flow is Killing Indian Rivers, Says New Study.” AFP. 6
March, 2013. http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-in-school/untreated-sewage-flow-
is-killing-indian-rivers-says-new-study/article4480149.ece

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53Forbes Magazine. “Oil and gas giants spend millions lobbying to block climate change policies.”
N. McCarthy. 25 March, 2019. https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2019/03/25/oil-
and-gas-giants-spend-millions-lobbying-to-block-climate-change-policies-infographic/

54NASA. “Scientific Consensus: Earth’s Climate is Warming.”

https://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus/

55
NASA. “Scientific Consensus: Earth’s Climate is Warming.”
https://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus/

NASA. “Do scientists agree on climate change?” https://climate.nasa.gov/faq/17/do-scientists-

agree-on-climate-change/

56N. McCarthy. “Oil Firms Spend Millions on Climate Lobbying.” 26 May, 2019.
https://www.statista.com/chart/17467/annual-expenditure-on-climate-lobbying-by-oil-and-
gas-companies/

Image Source: The Economist Magazine. Data sources: Corinne Le Quéré, et al (2018).
57

Global Carbon Project (GCP); Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Centre (CDIAC).

58United Nations. World Meteorological Organization. “Global Climate in 2015-2019:

Climate change accelerates.” 22 September, 2019. https://public.wmo.int/en/media/press-
release/global-climate-2015-2019-climate-change-accelerates

59Image source: United States Environmental Protection Agency. “Climate Change

Indicators: U.S. and Global Temperature.” Data Source: NOAA (National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration), 2016. https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-
change-indicators-us-and-global-temperature

60NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), 2016. National Centers for
Environmental Information, 2016. Note from source: for more information, visit U.S. EPA's
"Climate Change Indicators in the United States" at http://www.epa.gov/climate-
indicators.

61Image source: The European Space Agency Climate Change Initiative.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/09/22/climate/arctic-sea-ice-shrinking-trend-
watch.html

62Data source: National Snow and Ice Data Center and the Colorado Center for
Astrodynamics Research. Image source: New York Times. “In the Arctic, the old ice is
disappearing.” J. White, K. Pierre-Louis. 14 May, 2018.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/05/14/climate/arctic-sea-ice.html

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63OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development). “The Economic

Consequences of Climate Change.” 3 November, 2015. https://www.oecd.org/env/the-
economic-consequences-of-climate-change-9789264235410-en.htm

64Versions 1.1+ of The Next Giant Leap do not feature detailed focus on the state of oil
scarcity due to its post-COVID-19 price collapse. Oil scarcity is a future reality that
humanity must contend with, but the purpose of this writing is to solve resource scarcity –
not focus on the consequences of its existence. Consequently, the nature of future oil
scarcity will be touched upon in future posts on nextgiantleap.org.

Columbia University Earth Institute. “Climate change to exacerbate rising food prices.” A.
65

Mazhirov, 22 March, 2011.

66International Food Policy Research Institute. “Food Security, Farming and Climate Change
to 2050. Scenarios, Results, Policy Options.” December, 2010.
http://ebrary.ifpri.org/utils/getfile/collection/p15738coll2/id/127066/filename/127277.pdf#23

67Oxfam Issue Briefing. “Extreme Weather, Extreme Prices. The costs of feeding a warming
world.” September 2012. https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2011/03/22/climate-change-to-
exacerbate-rising-food-prices/

https://oxfamilibrary.openrepository.com/bitstream/handle/10546/241131/ib-extreme-
weather-extreme-prices-05092012-en.pdf#p7

68Oxfam Issue Briefing. “Extreme Weather, Extreme Prices. The costs of feeding a warming
world.” September 2012.
https://oxfamilibrary.openrepository.com/bitstream/handle/10546/241131/ib-extreme-
weather-extreme-prices-05092012-en.pdf#p7

69U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. “Figures at a Glance.”

http://www.unhcr.org/en-us/figures-at-a-glance.html.

70The impact of climate change and resource scarcity, beyond imminent or already-present
incidents, reflects a timeline measured by years to decades. See: United Nations -
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports https://www.ipcc.ch/reports/,
especially “Global Warming of 1.5 ºC” https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/

71
“Why We Fight” https://nextgiantleap.org/mindset/why-we-fight

72
“Why We Fight” https://nextgiantleap.org/mindset/why-we-fight

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 The Next Giant Leap

73
“Why We Fight” https://nextgiantleap.org/mindset/why-we-fight

74United States Military – Joint Forces Command. “The Joint Operating Environment – 2010.”
18 February, 2010. https://fas.org/man/eprint/joe2010.pdf

75International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons: http://www.icanw.org/the-

facts/nuclear-arsenals/.

76Background reading on Ohio-class SSBN’s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio-

class_submarine

77Israel is widely believed to have second-strike capability through classified submarine

developments. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolphin-class_submarine

78Picture of blast door in Minuteman-II missile silo, which has an intercontinental flight
time of minutes. The caption is a play on Domino’s Pizza, which reads “World-wide
delivery in 30 minutes or less – or your next one is free.”
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:World-
wide_delivery_in_30_minutes_or_less.JPG

79Reference.com. “How Many Cities Are There In The World?”

https://www.reference.com/geography/many-cities-world-c25cce21cb142891.

80International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons: http://www.icanw.org/the-

facts/nuclear-arsenals/.

81Meadows (2), Randers and Behrens, The Limits to Growth, Potomac Associates Press.
http://collections.dartmouth.edu/teitexts/meadows/diplomatic/meadows_ltg-
diplomatic.html

82Background reading on aluminum’s value. Slate Magazine, “Blogging the Periodic

Table.”
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/elements/features/2010/blogging_the_pe
riodic_table/aluminum_it_used_to_be_more_precious_than_gold.html

83Background reading on the Hall–Héroult process to extract aluminum:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hall%E2%80%93H%C3%A9roult_process

84Background reading on sugar taxation and its former status as a luxury commodity:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_sugar
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_Act

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85Background reading on Graphene. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphene. (See Chapter

Ten for a full breakdown in materials and recycling).

86U.S. Energy Information Administration. "Most U.S. nuclear power plants were built
between 1970 and 1990." 27 April, 2017.
https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=30972

87Electronic calculators emerged in the 1970's and weren't commercially prevalent until the
second half of the decade. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calculator#1970s_to_mid-1980s

Foreign Policy Magazine. “Resource Wars: The New Landscape of Global Conflict.” M. Klare.
88

May, 2001. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/capsule-review/2001-05-01/resource-

wars-new-landscape-global-conflict

Global Policy Forum. “The Dark Side of National Resources.”

https://www.globalpolicy.org/the-dark-side-of-natural-resources-st.html

89Energy Information Administration. “What is U.S. electricity generation by energy source?”

https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=427&t=3

90Information on the number of Energy Utilities operating in the United States.

https://www.publicpower.org/system/files/documents/2018-Public-Power-Statistical-
Report-Updated.pdf

91Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. “Electric Power Markets.”

https://www.ferc.gov/market-assessments/mkt-electric/overview.asp

92Advisian Consulting. “The Costs of Desalination.” D. Mishra. 15 February, 2018.

https://www.advisian.com/en-us/global-perspectives/the-cost-of-desalination

93Energy Information Administration data on electricity sales:

https://www.eia.gov/electricity/annual/html/epa_02_05.html

94Energy Information Administration. “Average Price of Electricity to Ultimate Customers.”

https://www.eia.gov/electricity/annual/html/epa_02_04.html

95 Background reading on Electrolysis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrolysis

96 See Chapter Nine for details and citations (page 183)

97 See Chapter Ten for details and citations (page 201)

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98National Geographic. “Renewable Energy Record Set in U.S.” S. Gibbens. 15 June, 2017.
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/06/solar-wind-renewable-energy-record/

99New York Times: “Rooftop Solar Dims Under Pressure from Utility Lobbyists.” H. Tabuchi. 8
July, 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/08/climate/rooftop-solar-panels-tax-credits-
utility-companies-lobbying.html

100NPR: “Texas Power Players Sit Out Political Opposition to Clean Power Plan.” 16 April, 2016.
http://www.npr.org/2016/04/16/474462519/texas-power-players-sit-out-political-
opposition-to-clean-power-plan

101International Electrotechnical Commission. “Efficient Electrical Energy Transmission and

Distribution.” (2007). https://basecamp.iec.ch/download/efficient-electrical-energy-
transmission-and-distribution/#

102Splinter magazine. “How much land is needed to power the U.S. with solar? Not much.” R.
Wile. 5 January, 2015. https://splinternews.com/how-much-land-is-needed-to-power-the-u-
s-with-solar-n-1793847493

103Electric Light & Power. “Underground vs. Overhead: Power Line Installation-Cost
Comparison and Mitigation.” 2 January, 2013.
http://www.elp.com/articles/powergrid_international/print/volume-18/issue-
2/features/underground-vs-overhead-power-line-installation-cost-comparison-.html

104Energy.gov. “The Falling Price Of Utility-Scale Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Projects.”

http://energy.gov/maps/falling-price-utility-scale-solar-photovoltaic-pv-projects

105U.S. Department of Energy. "Quadrennial Technology Review." Table 10.4: Range of

materials requirements (fuel excluded) for various electricity generation technologies."
September, 2015. https://nextgiantleap.org/sites/default/files/source_files/quadrennial-
technology-review-2015.pdf

Forbes Magazine. “If Solar Panels Are So Clean, Why Do They Produce So Much Toxic
Waste?” M. Shellenberger, contributor. 23 May, 2018.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/2018/05/23/if-solar-panels-are-so-
clean-why-do-they-produce-so-much-toxic-waste/#175aff0e121c

The Verge Magazine. “More solar panels mean more waste and there’s no easy solution.” A.
106

Chen. 25 October, 2018. https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/25/18018820/solar-panel-waste-

chemicals-energy-environment-recycling

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107 Background reading on solar shingle companies:

Tesla Solar Shingle: https://www.tesla.com/solarroof

RGS Solar Shingle: https://rgsenergy.com/
CertainTeed: https://www.certainteed.com/solar/
SunTegra: https://www.suntegrasolar.com/suntegra-shingles/

108Technical data sheet of the SunPower E20 solar panel:

https://us.sunpower.com/sites/default/files/sunpower-e-series-commercial-solar-panels-
e20-327-com-datasheet-505701-revh.pdf

109Energy Information Administration. “How much electricity does an American home use?”
Last updated 26 October, 2018. https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=97&t=3. (Note:
this table has been updated to reflect an average use of 10,927 kWh annually, but the
original 10,400 was included in formulas and will remain the benchmark until subsequent
versions of this writing are released. )

110CleanTechnia. “Solar Panels Do Work on Cloudy Days.” J. Richardson. 8 February, 2018.

https://cleantechnica.com/2018/02/08/solar-panels-work-cloudy-days-just-less-effectively/

111Energy Information Administration. “How Much Electricity Does an American Home Use?”
https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=97&t=3

112 Solar Window Power Model: https://solarwindow.com/powermodel/

113 Solar Window Power Model: https://solarwindow.com/powermodel/

114CivicSolar. “How Does Heat Affect Solar Panel Efficiencies?” S. Fox. December, 2017.
https://www.civicsolar.com/article/how-does-heat-affect-solar-panel-efficiencies

115Inhabitat Magazine. “SOLAR ARK: World’s Most Stunning Solar Building.” A. Kriscenski.
14 January, 2008.

116U.S. Department of Energy. “Passive Solar Home Design.”

https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/energy-efficient-home-design/passive-solar-home-
design

117Lazard Insights. “Levelized Cost of Energy and Levelized Cost of Storage 2018.” 8 November,
2018. https://www.lazard.com/perspective/levelized-cost-of-energy-and-levelized-cost-of-
storage-2018/

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118Energy Information Administration. “Use of Energy in the United States Explained.”

https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/index.cfm?page=us_energy_commercial

119Background reading on the Sunshine Skyway Bridge:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunshine_Skyway_Bridge

Using Google Maps, I assessed the square footage of my local Lowe’s parking lot to be
120

roughly 150,000 square feet.

121CivicSolar. “How Does Heat Affect Solar Panel Efficiencies?” S. Fox. December, 2017.
https://www.civicsolar.com/article/how-does-heat-affect-solar-panel-efficiencies

122Autoblog. “Enlil urban turbine uses traffic to generate electricity.” 28 June, 2018.
https://www.autoblog.com/2018/06/28/enl-l-urban-turbine-wind-from-traffic/

123National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, Medicine. National Academies Press.

Assessing and Managing the Ecological Impacts of Paved Roads. Chapter 2: History and
Status of the U.S. Road System. P. 41 https://www.nap.edu/read/11535/chapter/4

124National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, Medicine. National Academies Press.

Assessing and Managing the Ecological Impacts of Paved Roads. Chapter 2: History and
Status of the U.S. Road System. P. 41 https://www.nap.edu/read/11535/chapter/4

125 Background reading on road lanes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lane

126World Meteorological Organization. “July matched, and maybe broke, the record for the
hottest month since analysis began.” 1 August, 2019.
https://public.wmo.int/en/media/news/july-matched-and-maybe-broke-record-hottest-
month-analysis-began

The New York Times. “How Hot Was It in Australia? Hot Enough to Melt Asphalt.” M.
127

Astor. 7 January, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/07/world/australia/heat-

wave.html

128Background reading on “aquaplaning” in vehicles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquaplaning

Eniscuola Energy and Environment. “Road runoff and environmental pollution.” 22 March,
129

2017. http://www.eniscuola.net/en/2017/03/22/road-runoff-environmental-pollution/

Forbes Magazine. “The Reason Renewables Can’t Power Modern Civilization Is Because They
130

Were Never Meant To.” M. Shellenberger. 6 May, 2019.

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https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/2019/05/06/the-reason-renewables-
cant-power-modern-civilization-is-because-they-were-never-meant-to/#4932ce85ea2b

131J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 4, 1895–1897. Published 6 January, 2012
https://doi.org/10.1021/ja209759s

Background reading on the Ambri corporation. https://ambri.com/

132Nature Energy 4, 495–503 (2019). “Building aqueous K-ion batteries for energy storage.”
Jiang, L., Lu, Y., Zhao, C. et al. doi:10.1038/s41560-019-0388-0.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-019-0388-0#citeas

133Journal of Materials Chemistry. “Emergence of rechargeable seawater batteries.” S.

Senthilkumar, W. Go, J. Han, et al. 7 October, 2019.
https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2019/ta/c9ta08321a#!divAbstract

134Physics World. “Water-based batteries enable a green energy future.” J. Lewis. 28 May, 2019.
https://physicsworld.com/a/water-based-batteries-enable-a-green-energy-future/

135Background reading on Molten-salt batteries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molten-

salt_battery

136Background reading on solar-thermal collectors:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_thermal_collector

Wikipedia Entry on Miami-Dade County. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami-

137

Dade_County,_Florida

138Miami-Dade County. Energy outlook assessment. Page 2.

https://www.miamidade.gov/greenprint/planning/library/milestone_one/energy.pdf#p2

139EIA information on power plants nationwide.

https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=65&t=2

140Information on the number of Energy Utilities operating in the United States.

https://www.publicpower.org/system/files/documents/2018-Public-Power-Statistical-
Report-Updated.pdf

141Energy.gov information on the number of power lines in the U.S.

http://energy.gov/articles/top-9-things-you-didnt-know-about-americas-power-grid

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142Reuters. “Power reliability will cost Americans more.” 13 September, 2011.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-utilities-sandiego-blackout/insight-power-reliability-
will-cost-americans-more-idUSTRE78C4UG20110913

Los Angeles Times. “Blackout losses could top $100 million.” R Marosi. S Allen. 9
143

September, 2011. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/09/blackout-losses-could-top-

100-million.html?trac=lat-pick

144Reuters. “Power reliability will cost Americans more.” 13 September, 2011.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-utilities-sandiego-blackout/insight-power-reliability-
will-cost-americans-more-idUSTRE78C4UG20110913

145Washington Post. “141 Deaths Later, Heat Wave Appears Over.” O. Munoz. 28 July, 2006.
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/weather/news/2006-07-26-power-problems_x.htm

146Reuters. “Power reliability will cost Americans more.” 13 September, 2011.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-utilities-sandiego-blackout/insight-power-reliability-
will-cost-americans-more-idUSTRE78C4UG20110913

147 Background reading on base load power: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base_load

https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Baseload_power

148Energy Information Administration. “What is U.S. electricity generation by energy source?”

https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=427&t=3

Foundation for Water & Energy Education. “How a Hydroelectric Project Can Affect a
149

River.” https://fwee.org/environment/how-a-hydroelectric-project-can-affect-a-river/

Union of Concerned Scientists. “Environmental Impacts of Natural Gas.”

https://www.ucsusa.org/clean-energy/coal-and-other-fossil-fuels/environmental-impacts-
of-natural-gas
150 Energy Information Administration. “Most coal-fired electric capacity was built before

1980.” 28 June, 2011. https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=1990

Quartz Magazine. “Most coal-fired power plants in the US are nearing retirement age.” T.
151

Woody. 12 March, 2013. https://qz.com/61423/coal-fired-power-plants-near-retirement/

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152Forbes Magazine. “The Thing About Thorium: Why The Better Nuclear Fuel May Not Get a
Chance.” M. Katusa. 16 February, 2012.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/energysource/2012/02/16/the-thing-about-thorium-why-the-
better-nuclear-fuel-may-not-get-a-chance/#79d522b51d80

M. Baker Schaffer, RAND Corporation. “Abundant thorium as an alternative nuclear fuel

Important waste disposal and weapon proliferation advantages” 30 May, 2018.
https://web.mit.edu/mission/www/m2018/pdfs/japan/thorium.pdf

World Nuclear Association. “Thorium.” February, 2017. https://www.world-

nuclear.org/information-library/current-and-future-generation/thorium.aspx

153
AIP Conference Proceedings 1659, 040001 (2015) “Advantages of Liquid Fluoride Thorium
Reactor in Comparison with Light Water Reactor.”

154 See pages 107-115 for detailed breakdown on countries investing in thorium

155 Background reading on cold fusion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_fusion

156U.S. Department of Energy. "Quadrennial Technology Review." Table 10.4: Range of

materials requirements (fuel excluded) for various electricity generation technologies."
September, 2015. https://nextgiantleap.org/sites/default/files/source_files/quadrennial-
technology-review-2015.pdf

Center for Environmental Progress. “Are we headed for a solar waste crisis?” J. Desai, M.
Nelson. 21 June, 2017. http://environmentalprogress.org/big-news/2017/6/21/are-we-
headed-for-a-solar-waste-crisis

157Background facts about the Topaz Solar Farm.

http://www.firstsolar.com/Resources/Projects/Topaz-Solar-Farm

158Exelon Corp. “Limerick Generating Station.”

http://www.exeloncorp.com/locations/power-plants/limerick-generating-station

Background reading on LGS: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limerick_Generating_Station

159U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. “Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, Unit 1.”
https://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/reactors/palo1.html
Additional background reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palo_Verde_Nuclear_Generating_Station

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160Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. C. Clack, S. Qvist, J. Apt, et al.

“Evaluation of a proposal for reliable low-cost grid power with 100% wind, water, and solar.”
PNAS June 27, 2017 114 (26) 6722-6727; first published June 19, 2017
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1610381114

C. Bahri, A. Majid, W. Al-Areqi. “Advantages of Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor in

161

Comparison with Light Water Reactor.” Nuclear Science Program, School of Applied Physics,
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. https://aip.scitation.org/doi/pdf/10.1063/1.4916861

C. Bahri, A. Majid, W. Al-Areqi. “Advantages of Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor in

162

Comparison with Light Water Reactor.” Nuclear Science Program, School of Applied Physics,
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. https://aip.scitation.org/doi/pdf/10.1063/1.4916861

163MIT Technology Review. “Meltdown-Proof Nuclear Reactors get a Safety Check in Europe.”
R. Martin. 4 September, 2015. https://www.technologyreview.com/s/540991/meltdown-
proof-nuclear-reactors-get-a-safety-check-in-europe/

164Machine Design. “Thorium: A Safe Form of Clean Energy?” K. Sorensen. 16 March, 2010.
https://www.machinedesign.com/energy/thorium-safe-form-clean-energy

World Nuclear Association. “Thorium.” February, 2017. https://www.world-

nuclear.org/information-library/current-and-future-generation/thorium.aspx

U.S. Department of Energy. Office of Scientific and Technical Information. “Fast

165

Spectrum Molten Salt Reactor Options.” 1 July, 2011. https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1018987

M. Baker Schaffer, RAND Corporation. “Abundant thorium as an alternative nuclear fuel

Important waste disposal and weapon proliferation advantages” 30 May, 2018.
https://web.mit.edu/mission/www/m2018/pdfs/japan/thorium.pdf

C. Bahri, A. Majid, W. Al-Areqi. “Advantages of Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor in

166

Comparison with Light Water Reactor.” Nuclear Science Program, School of Applied Physics,
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. https://aip.scitation.org/doi/pdf/10.1063/1.4916861

167World Nuclear Association. Information Library: Uranium Enrichment. http://www.world-

nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-cycle/conversion-enrichment-and-
fabrication/uranium-enrichment.aspx. Last updated date: June, 2018.

168A. Ahmad, E. McClamrock, A. Glaser. "Neutronics calculations for denatured molten salt
reactors: Assessing resource requirements and proliferation-risk attributes." Annals of Nuclear
Energy. Volume 75. January, 2015. Pages 261-267.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2014.08.014

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M. Schaffer. "Abundant thorium as an alternative nuclear fuel: Important waste disposal and
weapon proliferation advantages." Journal of Energy Policy, Volume 60. September, 2013,
pages 4-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2013.04.062

The Economist Magazine. “Asgard’s fire. Thorium, an element named after the Norse god of
thunder, may soon contribute to the world’s electricity supply.” 12 April, 2014.
https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2014/04/12/asgards-fire

169UxC SMR Research Center. “SMR Design Profile.” 3 April, 2013.

https://www.uxc.com/smr/uxc_SMRDetail.aspx?key=LFTR

170S. Lam. “Economics of Thorium and Uranium Reactors.” 30 April, 2013.

http://pages.hmc.edu/evans/LamThorium.pdf

171Background information on LFTRs, including historical progress:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium-
based_nuclear_power#Background_and_brief_history

172LibreTexts. “10.2: Fission and Fusion.” A. Soult. 2 November, 2019.

https://chem.libretexts.org/Courses/University_of_Kentucky/UK%3A_CHE_103_-
_Chemistry_for_Allied_Health_(Soult)/Chapters/Chapter_10%3A_Nuclear_and_Chemical
_Reactions/10.2%3A_Fission_and_Fusion

173Background reading on fusion energy:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusion_power#Deuterium,_tritium

174Forbes. “The Thing About Thorium: Why The Better Nuclear Fuel May Not Get A Chance.” M.
Katusa. 16 February, 2012. https://www.forbes.com/sites/energysource/2012/02/16/the-
thing-about-thorium-why-the-better-nuclear-fuel-may-not-get-a-chance/

175American Physical Society. “Liquid Fuel Nuclear Reactors.” R. Hargraves, R. Moir.

January, 2011. https://www.aps.org/units/fps/newsletters/201101/hargraves.cfm

World Nuclear Association. “Thorium.” February, 2017. https://www.world-

nuclear.org/information-library/current-and-future-generation/thorium.aspx

176Background reading on Pressurized Water Reactors:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pressurized_water_reactor

Background reading on Light Water Reactors: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light-

177

water_reactor

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178Background reading on Heavy Water Reactors:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pressurized_heavy-water_reactor

179Background reading on Molten Salt Reactors (generic):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molten_salt_reactor

180World Nuclear Association. “The Nuclear Fuel Cycle.” Last updated date: March, 2017.
http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-
cycle/introduction/nuclear-fuel-cycle-overview.aspx

181 Hargreaves, Robert, PhD. “THORIUM: Energy Cheaper than Coal.” July 25, 2012. pp 164

182 Hargreaves, Robert, PhD. “THORIUM: Energy Cheaper than Coal.” July 25, 2012. pp 164

183National Institute of Health. “Lessons Learned from the Fukushima Nuclear Accident for
Improving Safety of U.S. Nuclear Plants.” Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board; Division on
Earth and Life Studies; National Research Council. 29 October, 2014.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK253931/

World Nuclear Association. “How is uranium made into nuclear fuel?” No date or author
184

provided. https://www.world-nuclear.org/nuclear-essentials/how-is-uranium-made-into-
nuclear-fuel.aspx

185Background reading on Chernobyl disaster:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster

186
American institute of physics. “Searching for lost WWII-era uranium cubes from Germany.”
1 May, 2019. https://phys.org/news/2019-05-lost-wwii-era-uranium-cubes-germany.html

187Discover Magazine. “Why Aren’t we using thorium in nuclear reactors?” A. Hadhazy. 6

May, 2014. https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/why-arent-we-using-thorium-
in-nuclear-reactors

110th Congress. (2008). S. 3680 (110th): Thorium energy independence and security act of
2008. Retrieved from website: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/110/s3680/text

U.S. Department of Energy. “Closing the Circle on the Splitting of the Atom.” January, 1996.
https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2014/03/f8/Closing_the_Circle_Report.pdf

188World Nuclear Association. “Plutonium.” https://www.world-nuclear.org/information-

library/nuclear-fuel-cycle/fuel-recycling/plutonium.aspx

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189Globalsecurity.org “Weapons of Mass Destruction – Gun Device.”

https://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/intro/gun-device.htm

190Globalsecurity.org. “Weapons of Mass Destruction – Implosion Device.”

https://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/intro/implosion-device.htm

191“Neptunium 237 and Americium: World Inventories and Proliferation Concerns.” D. Albright
and K. Kramer. July 10, 2005. http://isis-online.org/uploads/isis-
reports/documents/np_237_and_americium.pdf#p14

192“Neptunium 237 and Americium: World Inventories and Proliferation Concerns.” D. Albright
and K. Kramer. July 10, 2005. http://isis-online.org/uploads/isis-
reports/documents/np_237_and_americium.pdf#p14

193Plutonium-239 is created via neutron capture of uranium-238, which is the most

common form of uranium in the world (99%+), and is an aspect of the uranium fuel supply
used in Pressurized Water Reactors. World Nuclear Association. “Plutonium.”
https://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-cycle/fuel-
recycling/plutonium.aspx

194Background reading on how hydrogen (thermonuclear) weapons work:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermonuclear_weapon

195Background reading on Teller-Ulam thermonuclear weapon design.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermonuclear_weapon

196University of Norte Dame lecture slides. “The Hydrogen Bomb.”

https://www3.nd.edu/~nsl/Lectures/phys20061/pdf/10.pdf

197 Common nuclear weapons yields: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapon_yield

198
International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons: http://www.icanw.org/the-
facts/nuclear-arsenals/.

199Minerals Education Coalition. Thorium. No date provided.

https://mineralseducationcoalition.org/elements/thorium/

200S. Kim, S. Hong, R. Park. “Analysis of steam explosion under conditions of partially flooded
cavity and submerged reactor vessel.” 5 July, 2018.
https://www.hindawi.com/journals/stni/2018/3106039/

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201Background reading on LFTR operation:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_fluoride_thorium_reactor

202Molten salts in LFTRs can take varied forms. This source provides background reading
on different salt options and their benefits and drawbacks:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molten_salt_reactor#Mixtures

203“An Overview of Thorium Utilization in Nuclear Reactors and Fuel Cycles.” J. Maiorino, F.
D’Auria,, R. Akbari-Jeyhouni. Respectively: Federal University of ABC, CECS, Av. dos
Estados, 5001, Santo André-SP-Brazil, University of Pisa, GRNSPG-DESTEC, Largo L
Lazzarini, Pisa, Italy, Amirkabir University of Technology, Department of Energy
Engineering & Physics, Tehran, Iran.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325670177_An_Overview_of_Thorium_Utilizati
on_in_Nuclear_Reactors_and_Fuel_Cycles

204International Atomic Energy Agency. “Status Report – LFTR, Flibe Energy.” 28 July, 2016.
https://aris.iaea.org/PDF/LFTR.pdf

M. Baker Schaffer, RAND Corporation. “Abundant thorium as an alternative nuclear fuel

Important waste disposal and weapon proliferation advantages” 30 May, 2018.
https://web.mit.edu/mission/www/m2018/pdfs/japan/thorium.pdf

205Watt-Logic. “New project re-ignites European interest in thorium.” 10 September, 2017.

http://watt-logic.com/2017/09/10/thorium/

206American Physical Society. “Liquid Fuel Nuclear Reactors.” R. Hargraves, R. Moir.

January, 2011. https://www.aps.org/units/fps/newsletters/201101/hargraves.cfm

WIRED magazine. “Uranium is So Last Century – Enter Thorium, the New Green Nuke.” R.
Martin. 21 December, 2009. https://www.wired.com/2009/12/ff_new_nukes/

207Robertson, R. C. (June 1971). "Conceptual Design Study of a Single-Fluid Molten-Salt

Breeder Reactor" (PDF). ORNL-4541. Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
https://energyfromthorium.com/pdf/ORNL-4541.pdf#p1

Hargreaves, Robert, PhD. “THORIUM: Energy Cheaper than Coal.” July 25, 2012. pp 177-
208

257

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209NASA Glenn Research Center / American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

“High Efficiency Nuclear Power Plants Using Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor Technology.” A.
Juhaz, R. Rarick, R. Rangarajan. October, 2009.
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20090029904.pdf#p3

WIRED magazine. “Uranium is So Last Century – Enter Thorium, the New Green Nuke.” R.
Martin. 21 December, 2009. https://www.wired.com/2009/12/ff_new_nukes/

210International Atomic Energy Agency. “Status Report – LFTR, Flibe Energy.”

https://aris.iaea.org/PDF/LFTR.pdf

211American Physical Society. “Liquid Fuel Nuclear Reactors.” R. Hargraves, R. Moir.

January, 2011. https://www.aps.org/units/fps/newsletters/201101/hargraves.cfm

U.S. Department of Energy. Office of Scientific and Technical Information. “Fast

212

Spectrum Molten Salt Reactor Options.” 1 July, 2011. https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1018987

213NASA Glenn Research Center / American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

“High Efficiency Nuclear Power Plants Using Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor Technology.” A.
Juhaz, R. Rarick, R. Rangarajan. October, 2009.
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20090029904.pdf#p4

214World Nuclear Association. Information Library: Uranium Enrichment. http://www.world-

nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-cycle/conversion-enrichment-and-
fabrication/uranium-enrichment.aspx. Last updated date: June, 2018.

Stanford University (coursework). “Thorium Energy Viability.” J. Ting. 12 November, 2015.

http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2015/ph240/ting1/

215Rare Earth Investing News. “Thorium: Rare Earth Liability or Asset?” M. Montgomery.
14 March, 2011. https://investingnews.com/daily/resource-investing/critical-metals-
investing/rare-earth-investing/thorium-rare-earth-liability-or-asset/

Hargreaves, Robert, PhD. “THORIUM: Energy Cheaper than Coal.” July 25, 2012. pp 177-
216

257

369
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217Thorium MSR Foundation. “The Flibe Energy LFTR49: the triple ace in nuclear GEN IV
design.” T. Wolters. 24 July, 2016. https://articles.thmsr.nl/the-flibe-energy-lftr49-the-triple-
ace-in-nuclear-gen-iv-design-ea9bffcd71dd

M. Schaffer. “Abundant thorium as an alternative nuclear fuel: Important waste disposal and
weapon proliferation advantages.” Journal of Energy Policy, Volume 60. September, 2013,
pages 4-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2013.04.062

218LERNER, L. (2012, JUNE 22). Nuclear fuel recycling could offer plentiful energy.
Argonne National Laboratory News. Retrieved from http://www.anl.gov/articles/nuclear-
fuel-recycling-could-offer-plentiful-energy

U.S. Department of Energy. Office of Scientific and Technical Information. “Fast

219

Spectrum Molten Salt Reactor Options.” 1 July, 2011. https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1018987

220American Physical Society. “Liquid Fuel Nuclear Reactors.” R. Hargraves, R. Moir.

January, 2011. https://www.aps.org/units/fps/newsletters/201101/hargraves.cfm

221 Caesum-137 has a half-life of 30.17 years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesium-137

222S.F. Ashley, B.A. Lindley, G.T. Parks, et al, “Fuel Cycle modelling of open cycle thorium
fueled nuclear energy systems.” Annals of Nuclear Energy. V. 69, pp.314-330. July, 2014.

223Background reading on LFTRs and environmental benefits:

APS Physics: Liquid Fuel Nuclear Reactors. R. Hargraves and R. Moir.
http://www.aps.org/units/fps/newsletters/201101/hargraves.cfm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_fluoride_thorium_reactor#advantages

224Oak Ridge National Laboratory. “Preparation of high purity neptunium on multi-gram

scale.” P. Pantz, W. Martin, G. Parker. ORNL-2642.
https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/4275225

R. E. Brooksbank and CD. Hilton, Recovery of Neptunium-237 from Fluorinator Ash in

Metal Recovery Plant, ORNL-2515, (15 September, 1958).

225“Neptunium 237 and Americium: World Inventories and Proliferation Concerns.” Table 1. D.
Albright and K. Kramer. July 10, 2005. http://isis-online.org/uploads/isis-
reports/documents/np_237_and_americium.pdf#p14

226“Neptunium 237 and Americium: World Inventories and Proliferation Concerns.” D. Albright
and K. Kramer. July 10, 2005. http://isis-online.org/uploads/isis-
reports/documents/np_237_and_americium.pdf#p14

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227Progress In Nuclear Energy. Volume 106. pp. 204-214. “The U-232 production in thorium
cycle.” A. Wojciechowski. July, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pnucene.2018.03.011

Langford, R. Everett (2004). Introduction to Weapons of Mass Destruction: Radiological,

228

Chemical, and Biological. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. p. 85.

229Science and Global Security, Volume 9. “U-232 and the proliferation resistance of u-233 in
spent fuel.” J. Kang, F. Hippel. P.1. http://fissilematerials.org/library/sgs09kang.pdf

230
Background reading on the REM unit of measuring radiation:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roentgen_equivalent_man

231Science and Global Security, Volume 9. “U-232 and the proliferation resistance of u-233 in
spent fuel.” J. Kang, F. Hippel. P.1. http://fissilematerials.org/library/sgs09kang.pdf

232Los Alamos National Laboratory. “Benchmark Critical Experiments of Uranium-233 Spheres

Surrounded by Uranium-235.” R. Brewer, 1995. P. 9.
https://fas.org/sgp/othergov/doe/lanl/lib-www/la-pubs/00285681.pdf#p9

233Atomic Archive. “Effects of radiation levels on the human body.” No date provided.
http://www.atomicarchive.com/Effects/radeffectstable.shtml

234International Atomic Energy Agency. “Safe Handling of Plutonium.” Safety series no 39,
1974.
https://gnssn.iaea.org/Superseded%20Safety%20Standards/Safety_Series_039_1974.pdf

235D. Makowski. “The impact of radiation on electronic devices with the specific consideration of
neutron and gamma radiation monitoring.” Technical University of Lodz. P. 10. https://jra-
srf.desy.de/e86/e575/e605/infoboxContent608/care-thesis-06-004.pdf#p10

Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control. “Nuclear Weapons Primer.” Figure 4-3,
236

Weapon design and production: firing sets. https://www.wisconsinproject.org/nuclear-

weapons/#implosion

237National Nuclear Laboratory, Government of the United Kingdom. “The Thorium Fuel
Cycle. An independent assessment by the UK National Nuclear Laboratory.” August, 2010.
https://www.nnl.co.uk/wp-
content/uploads/2019/01/nnl__1314092891_thorium_cycle_position_paper.pdf#p6

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238“Neptunium 237 and Americium: World Inventories and Proliferation Concerns.” D. Albright
and K. Kramer. July 10, 2005. http://isis-online.org/uploads/isis-
reports/documents/np_237_and_americium.pdf#p14

Background reading on first-strike methodology. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-

239

emptive_nuclear_strike

240Background reading on “Operation Outside the Box,” an Israeli airstrike against a

Syrian reactor suspected of nuclear weapons development.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Outside_the_Box

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. “Seawater yields first grams of yellowcake.” 13 June,
241

2018. S. Bauer. https://www.pnnl.gov/news/release.aspx?id=4514

242Science and Global Security, Volume 9. “U-232 and the proliferation resistance of u-233 in
spent fuel.” J. Kang, F. Hippel. P.1. http://fissilematerials.org/library/sgs09kang.pdf#p1

243Background reading on two lackluster tests with uranium-233 and neptunium-237:

http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/India/IndiaShakti.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Teapot

244Background reading on two lackluster tests with uranium-233 and neptunium-237:

http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/India/IndiaShakti.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Teapot

245Background reading on two lackluster tests with uranium-233 and neptunium-237:

http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/India/IndiaShakti.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Teapot

246Diagram of Boiling Water Reactor. Georgia State University.

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/NucEne/reactor.html

J. Mena, P. Edmondson, L. Margetts, et al. “Characterisation of the spatial variability of

247

material properties of Gilsocarbon and NBG-18 using random fields.” Journal of Nuclear
Materials 511. September, 2008. DOI: 10.1016/j.jnucmat.2018.09.008

Hargreaves, Robert, PhD. “THORIUM: Energy Cheaper than Coal.” July 25, 2012. pp 177-257

Transatomic Power. Technical White Paper. V.1.0.1. 14 March, 2014. P. 9.

https://nextgiantleap.org/sites/default/files/TAP_White_Paper.pdf#9

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T. Fei, D. Ogata, K. Pham, et al. (16 May 2008). "A modular pebble-bed advanced high
temperature reactor.” U.C. Berkeley Report UCBTH-08-001. 16 May, 2008.
http://fhr.nuc.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/08-001_PB-
AHTR_NE170_Design_Project_Rpt.pdf

M. Schaffer. “Abundant thorium as an alternative nuclear fuel: Important waste disposal and
weapon proliferation advantages." Journal of Energy Policy, Volume 60. September, 2013,
pages 4-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2013.04.062

Wired Magazine. “Uranium is so last century – enter thorium, the new green nuke.” R Martin.
21 December, 2009. https://www.wired.com/2009/12/ff-new-nukes/

Hargreaves, Robert, PhD. “THORIUM: Energy Cheaper than Coal.” July 25, 2012. pp 177-
248

257

Harvard Business Review. “Profit from the learning curve.” W. Hirschmann. January,
249

1964. https://hbr.org/1964/01/profit-from-the-learning-curve

Investopedia. “Learning Curve.” https://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/learning-curve.asp

250 Background reading on Moore’s Law. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore%27s_law

251 Hargreaves, Robert, PhD. “THORIUM: Energy Cheaper than Coal.” July 25, 2012. pp 221

252 Hargreaves, Robert, PhD. “THORIUM: Energy Cheaper than Coal.” July 25, 2012. pp 220

Oak Ridge National Laboratory. “Molten Salt Reactor Experience Applicable to LS-VHTR
253

Refueling.” C. Forsberg, ORNL, 18 April, 2006.

Background reading on experiments to power aircraft with atomic energy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_Nuclear_Propulsion

Oak Ridge National Laboratory. “Molten Salt Reactor Experience Applicable to LS-VHTR
254

Refueling.” C. Forsberg, ORNL, 18 April, 2006.

255Forbes. “The Thing About Thorium: Why The Better Nuclear Fuel May Not Get A Chance.” M.
Katusa. 16 February, 2012. https://www.forbes.com/sites/energysource/2012/02/16/the-
thing-about-thorium-why-the-better-nuclear-fuel-may-not-get-a-chance/

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Oak Ridge National Laboratory. “Fluoride-Salt-Cooled High-Temperature Reactors

256

Overview.” https://www.ornl.gov/msr

Oak Ridge National Laboratory. “Molten Salt Reactor Experience Applicable to LS-VHTR
Refueling.” C. Forsberg, ORNL, 18 April, 2006. Also see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molten-Salt_Reactor_Experiment for background reading
and the National Laboratory Reports on MSRs here
https://www.ornl.gov/content/national-laboratory-reports-fhrs

257
Oak Ridge National Laboratory. “Molten Salt Reactor Experience Applicable to LS-VHTR
Refueling.” C. Forsberg, ORNL, 18 April, 2006.

258Oak Ridge National Laboratory. “Update on SINAP TMSR Research.”

https://public.ornl.gov/conferences/msr2016/docs/Presentations/MSR2016-day1-15-
Hongjie-Xu-Update-on-SINAP-TMSR-Research.pdf#p3

259South China Morning Post. “China hopes cold war nuclear energy tech will power warships,
drones.” S. Chen. https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2122977/china-hopes-
cold-war-nuclear-energy-tech-will-power-warships

China Daily. “China among the countries looking to thorium as new nuclear fuel.” K. Wilson. 25
October, 2018.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201810/25/WS5bd11cf3a310eff3032846d1.html

Next Big Future. “China spending US$3.3 billion on molten salt nuclear reactors for faster aircraft
carriers and in flying drones.” B. Wang. 6 December, 2017.
https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2017/12/china-spending-us3-3-billion-on-molten-salt-
nuclear-reactors-for-faster-aircraft-carriers-and-in-flying-drones.html

260Next Big Future. “China spending US$3.3 billion on molten salt nuclear reactors for faster
aircraft carriers and in flying drones.” B. Wang. 6 December, 2017.
https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2017/12/china-spending-us3-3-billion-on-molten-salt-
nuclear-reactors-for-faster-aircraft-carriers-and-in-flying-drones.html

261China Daily. “China among the countries looking to thorium as new nuclear fuel.” K. Wilson.
25 October, 2018.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201810/25/WS5bd11cf3a310eff3032846d1.html

South China Morning Post. “China hopes cold war nuclear energy tech will power warships,
drones.” S. Chen. https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2122977/china-hopes-
cold-war-nuclear-energy-tech-will-power-warships

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https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2017/12/china-spending-us3-3-billion-on-molten-salt-
nuclear-reactors-for-faster-aircraft-carriers-and-in-flying-drones.html

262China Daily. “China among the countries looking to thorium as new nuclear fuel.” K. Wilson.
25 October, 2018.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201810/25/WS5bd11cf3a310eff3032846d1.html

South China Morning Post. “China hopes cold war nuclear energy tech will power warships,
drones.” S. Chen. https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2122977/china-hopes-
cold-war-nuclear-energy-tech-will-power-warships

https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2017/12/china-spending-us3-3-billion-on-molten-salt-
nuclear-reactors-for-faster-aircraft-carriers-and-in-flying-drones.html

263Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group (Netherlands). “NRG researches new nuclear
reactor concept.” https://www.nrg.eu/about-nrg/news-press/detail/article/nrg-doet-
onderzoek-voor-nieuw-type-kerncentrale-105.html

264The Thorium MSR Foundation. “‘Petten’ has started world’s first MSR-specific thorium fuel
irradiation experiments in 45 years.” G. Zwartsenberg. 18 August, 2017.
https://articles.thmsr.nl/petten-has-started-world-s-first-thorium-msr-specific-irradiation-
experiments-in-45-years-ff8351fce5d2

265The Thorium MSR Foundation. “‘Petten’ has started world’s first MSR-specific thorium fuel
irradiation experiments in 45 years.” G. Zwartsenberg. 18 August, 2017.
https://articles.thmsr.nl/petten-has-started-world-s-first-thorium-msr-specific-irradiation-
experiments-in-45-years-ff8351fce5d2

BBC Future Now. “Why India Wants to Turn Its Beaches Into Nuclear Fuel.” E. Gent. 18
266

October, 2018. http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20181016-why-india-wants-to-turn-its-

beaches-into-nuclear-fuel

267Background reading on India’s three-stage nuclear power program.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India%27s_three-stage_nuclear_power_programme

Nuclear Asia. “Criticality of prototype fast breeder reactor pushed back further.” 30
268

September, 2018. R. Shama. http://www.nuclearasia.com/news/criticality-prototype-fast-

breeder-reactor-pushed-back/2453/

Times of India. “Kalpakkam fast breeder reactor may achieve criticality in 2019.” PTI. 20
September, 2018. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/kalpakkam-fast-breeder-
reactor-may-achieve-criticality-in-2019/articleshow/65888098.cms

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269Times of India. “Nuclear reactor at Kalpakkam: World’s envy, India’s pride.”

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/nuclear-reactor-at-kalpakkam-worlds-envy-
indias-pride/articleshow/59407602.cms

270Government of India. Department of Atomic Energy. “Fast Breeder Programme: An

Inevitable Option for Energy Security.” B. Raj. Director, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic
Research. https://dae.nic.in/?q=node/208

271Background reading on India’s three-stage nuclear power program.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India%27s_three-stage_nuclear_power_programme

272Nuclear Engineering International Magazine. “Russian Scientists Look to Thorium

Reactors.” 29 January, 2018. https://www.neimagazine.com/news/newsrussian-scientists-
look-to-thorium-reactors-6036775

Phys.org. “Thorium reactors may dispose of enormous amounts of weapons-grade plutonium.”

Tomsk Polytechnic University. 22 January, 2018. https://phys.org/news/2018-01-thorium-
reactors-dispose-enormous-amounts.html

273New Atlas Magazine. “Can Thorium Reactors Dispose of Weapons-Grade Plutonium?” M.

Irving. 22 January, 2018. https://newatlas.com/thorium-reactor-recycle-plutonium/53078/

274I. Shamanin, V. Grachev, Y. Chertkov, S. Bedenko, O. Mendoza, V. Knyshev. “Neutronic

properties of high-temperature gas-cooled reactors with thorium fuel.” Annals of Nuclear Energy,
Volume 113, March 2018.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306454917304358?via%3Dihub

275Thorium Energy World. “Putin has Thorium Plans and Engages Russia’s Vast Nuclear
Establishment.” 31 August, 2016. http://www.thoriumenergyworld.com/news/putin-has-
thorium-plans-and-engages-russias-vast-nuclear-establishment

New York Times. “Why ‘Green’ Germany Remains Addicted to Coal.” M. Eddy. 10 October,
276

2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/10/world/europe/germany-coal-climate.html

New York Times. “Why ‘Green’ Germany Remains Addicted to Coal.” M. Eddy. 10 October,
277

2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/10/world/europe/germany-coal-climate.html

278Background reading on the THTR-300 high-temperature reactor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/THTR-300

279 Nuclear Energy Institute. “Statistics.” https://www.nei.org/resources/statistics

376
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280Tennessee Valley Authority. “Watts Bar Nuclear Plant.”

https://www.tva.gov/Energy/Our-Power-System/Nuclear/Watts-Bar-Nuclear-Plant

281Washington Post. “It’s the first new U.S. nuclear reactor in decades. And climate change
has made that a very big deal.” C. Mooney. 17 June, 2016.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/06/17/the-u-s-is-
powering-up-its-first-new-nuclear-reactor-in-decades/?utm_term=.64da71742e42

282Westinghouse eVinci Microreactor. http://www.westinghousenuclear.com/New-

Plants/eVinci-Micro-Reactor

283Westinghouse eVinci Microreactor. http://www.westinghousenuclear.com/New-

Plants/eVinci-Micro-Reactor

284Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “Nuke on a truck: How Westinghouse is shrinking the nuclear power
plant.” A. Litvak. 31 December, 2018. https://www.post-
gazette.com/business/powersource/2018/12/31/westinghouse-microreactor-evinci-
generator-nuscale-power-general-atomics/stories/201812300007

285National Conference of State Legislatures. “NuScale Power Overview.” M. McGough,

CCO NuScale Power, Inc. October, 2013.
http://www.ncsl.org/documents/environ/McGoughpresentation.pdf

286 NuScale. “NuScale wins U.S. DOE funding for its SMR Technology.”
https://www.nuscalepower.com/about-us/doe-partnership
287 The Oregonian. “Corvallis nuclear power company NuScale passes regulatory milestone.” B.

Hall. 3 May, 2018.

https://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2018/05/corvallis_nuclear_power_compan.
html

288Power Magazine. “DOE Designates Part of UAMPS SMR Plant for Research, Self-Power.” S.
Patel. 3 January, 2019. https://www.powermag.com/doe-designates-part-of-uamps-smr-
plant-for-research-self-power/

289 General Atomics. “Advanced Reactors.” http://www.ga.com/advanced-reactors

International Atomic Energy Agency. “Advances in Small Modular Reactor Technology

290

Developments.” https://aris.iaea.org/publications/smr-book_2016.pdf

International Atomic Energy Agency. “Advances in Small Modular Reactor Technology

291

Developments.” 2016. https://aris.iaea.org/publications/smr-book_2016.pdf

377
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292Terrestrial Energy. Background on ISMR technology.

https://www.terrestrialenergy.com/technology/versatile/

293 Terrestrial Energy. ISMR overview. https://www.terrestrialenergy.com/

294Market Research Future. “Micro Reactor Technology Market – Trends & Forecast, 2016-
2022.” May, 2017. https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/micro-reactor-
technology-market-1128

ThinkProgress. “Taxpayers should not fund Bill Gates’ nuclear albatross.” J. Romm. 4
295

February, 2019. https://thinkprogress.org/nuclear-power-is-so-uneconomical-even-bill-

gates-cant-make-it-work-without-taxpayer-funding-faea0cdb60de/

296Popular Mechanics. “The Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez 'Green New Deal' Wants to Get Rid of
Nuclear Power. That's a Great Idea.” A. Thompson. 8 Feburary, 2019.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/a26255413/green-new-deal-nuclear-
power/

297The Guardian. “Don't believe the spin on thorium being a greener nuclear option.” E. Rees. 23
June, 2011.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/jun/23/thorium-nuclear-uranium

298National Nuclear Laboratory, Government of the United Kingdom. “The Thorium Fuel
Cycle. An independent assessment by the UK National Nuclear Laboratory.”
http://www.nnl.co.uk/media/1050/nnl__1314092891_thorium_cycle_position_paper.pdf

299National Nuclear Laboratory, Government of the United Kingdom. “The Thorium Fuel
Cycle. An independent assessment by the UK National Nuclear Laboratory.”
http://www.nnl.co.uk/media/1050/nnl__1314092891_thorium_cycle_position_paper.pdf

300American Action Forum. “The Costs And Benefits Of Nuclear Regulation.” S. Batkins, 8
September, 2018. https://www.americanactionforum.org/research/costs-benefits-nuclear-
regulation/

301American Action Forum. “Putting Nuclear Regulatory Costs in Context.” S. Batkins, P.

Rossetti, D. Goldbeck. 12 July, 2017.
https://www.americanactionforum.org/research/putting-nuclear-regulatory-costs-context/

302International Atomic Energy Agency. “Construction time of PWR’s.” P. Carajilescov. J.

Moreira. 2011 International Nuclear Atlantic Conference - INAC 2011.
https://inis.iaea.org/collection/NCLCollectionStore/_Public/42/105/42105221.pdf

378
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303American Action Forum. “Putting Nuclear Regulatory Costs in Context.” S. Batkins, P.

Rossetti, D. Goldbeck. 12 July, 2017.
https://www.americanactionforum.org/research/putting-nuclear-regulatory-costs-context/

ARS Technica. “Ballmer: iPhone has ‘no chance’ of gaining significant market share.” J.
304

Hruska. 30 April, 2007. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2007/04/ballmer-

says-iphone-has-no-chance-to-gain-significant-market-share/

305Computerworld. CW@50: Data storage goes from $1m to 2 cents per gigabyte. L. Mearian. 23
March, 2017. https://www.computerworld.com/article/3182207/cw50-data-storage-goes-
from-1m-to-2-cents-per-gigabyte.html

306MIT Technology Review. “Top U.S. Intelligence Official Calls Gene Editing a WMD Threat.”
A. Regalado. 9 February, 2016. https://www.technologyreview.com/s/600774/top-us-
intelligence-official-calls-gene-editing-a-wmd-threat/

Physics.org. “Could CRISPR be used as a biological weapon?” J. Revill. 31 August, 2017.

https://phys.org/news/2017-08-crispr-biological-weapon.html

307Wired Magazine. “Why It’s So Hard To Wipe Out All of Syria’s Chemical Weapons.” B.
Barrett. 8 April, 2017. https://www.wired.com/2017/04/syria-sarin-chemical-weapons-
chlorine/

Salt Lake City Desert News (sourcing Toronto Globe and Mail). “Formula for Sarin is
Simple” https://www.deseretnews.com/article/411177/FORMULA-FOR-SARIN-IS-
SIMPLE.html

C. Bahri, A. Majid, W. Al-Areqi. “Advantages of Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor in

308

Comparison with Light Water Reactor.” Nuclear Science Program, School of Applied Physics,
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. https://aip.scitation.org/doi/pdf/10.1063/1.4916861

309LERNER, L. (2012, JUNE 22). Nuclear fuel recycling could offer plentiful energy.
Argonne National Laboratory News. Retrieved from http://www.anl.gov/articles/nuclear-
fuel-recycling-could-offer-plentiful-energy

AIP Conference Proceedings 1659, 040001 (2015) “Advantages of Liquid Fluoride Thorium
310

Reactor in Comparison with Light Water Reactor.”

AIP Conference Proceedings 1659, 040001 (2015) “Advantages of Liquid Fluoride Thorium
311

Reactor in Comparison with Light Water Reactor.”

379
 The Next Giant Leap

312AIP Conference Proceedings 1659, 040001 (2015).

313Foundation for Economic Education. “Solar Panels Produce Tons of Toxic Waste –
Literally.” 18 November, 2019. https://fee.org/articles/solar-panels-produce-tons-of-toxic-
waste-literally/

314U.S. Department of Energy. "Quadrennial Technology Review." Table 10.4: Range of

materials requirements (fuel excluded) for various electricity generation technologies."
September, 2015. https://nextgiantleap.org/sites/default/files/source_files/quadrennial-
technology-review-2015.pdf

315U.S. Department of Energy. "Quadrennial Technology Review." Table 10.4: Range of

materials requirements (fuel excluded) for various electricity generation technologies."
September, 2015. https://nextgiantleap.org/sites/default/files/source_files/quadrennial-
technology-review-2015.pdf

317
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. C. Clack, S. Qvist, J. Apt, et al.
“Evaluation of a proposal for reliable low-cost grid power with 100% wind, water, and solar.”
PNAS June 27, 2017 114 (26) 6722-6727; first published June 19, 2017
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1610381114

New York Times. “Why ‘Green’ Germany Remains Addicted to Coal.” M. Eddy. 10 October,
318

2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/10/world/europe/germany-coal-climate.html

319“The benefits of nuclear flexibility in power system operations with renewable energy.” J.
Jenkins, Z. Zhou, R. Ponciroli, R. Vilim, F. Ganda, F. Sisternes, A. Botterrud. Applied
Energy 222. 15 July, 2018.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261918303180

“Real-world Challenges with a Rapid Transition to 100% Renewable Power Systems.” C.

Heuberger. N. MacDowell. Joule Volume 2, Issue 3. 21 March, 2018.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2542435118300485

320Nuclear Energy Institute. “Only Nuclear Energy Can Save the Planet.” J. Goldstein, S.
Qvist. 11 January, 2019. https://www.nei.org/news/2019/only-nuclear-energy-can-save-the-
planet

Strata policy research. “U.S. Nuclear Power: Regulatory Barriers and Energy Potential.”
321

August, 2017. https://www.strata.org/us-nuclear-power/

Institute for Energy Research. “Regulations Hurt Economics of Nuclear Power.” 19 January,
322

2018. https://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/nuclear/regulations-hurt-economics-
nuclear-power/

380
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“Historical Construction Costs of global nuclear power reactors.” J. Lovering, A. Yip, T.

Nordhaus. 12 January, 2016.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421516300106?via%3Dihub

Wired Magazine. "How Boeing builds a 737 in just 9 days." J. Stewart. 27 September,
323

2016. https://www.wired.com/2016/09/boeing-builds-737-just-nine-days/
Timelapse of 737 construction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liZ0WEEsuz4

The Post and Courier. "Pace of 787 Dreamliner production quickens and Boeing's North
Charlson campus." D. Wren. 1 April, 2018.
https://www.postandcourier.com/business/pace-of-dreamliner-production-quickens-at-
boeing-s-north-charleston/article_02b584ea-3384-11e8-a3d4-ff9ca36dc590.html

Boeing corp information on Everett production facility.

http://www.boeing.com/company/about-bca/everett-production-facility.page.

324R. Robertson.; R. Briggs, O. Smith. “Two-Fluid Molten-Salt Breeder Reactor Design Study
(Status as of January 1, 1968).” (1970). ORNL-4528. Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
doi:10.2172/4093364. https://www.osti.gov/biblio/4093364-two-fluid-molten-salt-breeder-
reactor-design-study-status-january

R. Robertson. “Conceptual Design Study of a Single-Fluid Molten-Salt Breeder Reactor” ORNL-

4541. Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
https://nextgiantleap.org/sites/default/files/source_files/ORNL-4541.pdf#p26

325D. LeBlanc. “Molten salt reactors: A new beginning for an old idea.” Nuclear Engineering
and Design. 240 (6): 1644. doi:10.1016/j.nucengdes.2009.12.033 /
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0029549310000191

Transatomic Power. Technical White Paper. V.1.0.1. 14 March, 2014. P. 24.

https://nextgiantleap.org/sites/default/files/TAP_White_Paper.pdf#24

C. Sona, D. Gajbhiye, P. Hule, et al. “High temperature corrosion studies in molten salt-
FLiNaK.”Journal of Corrosion Engineering, Science and Technology.” Vol 49, 2014 (issue
4). https://doi.org/10.1179/1743278213Y.0000000135

326C. Forsberg. “Molten-Salt-Reactor Technology Gaps.” Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

10 February, 2006. https://nextgiantleap.org/sites/default/files/source_files/msrtg.pdf#p4

N. Brun, G. Hewitt, C. Markides. “Transient freezing of molten salts in pipe-flow systems:

applications to direct reactor auxiliary cooling systems (DRACS).” Journal of Applied

381
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Energy. Volume 186, part 1. 15 January, 2017. Pages 56-67.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.09.099 /
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306261916314039

327
Transatomic Power. Technical White Paper. V.1.0.1. 14 March, 2014. P. 9.
https://nextgiantleap.org/sites/default/files/TAP_White_Paper.pdf#9

T. Fei, D. Ogata, K. Pham, et al. (16 May 2008). "A modular pebble-bed advanced high
temperature reactor.” U.C. Berkeley Report UCBTH-08-001. 16 May, 2008.
http://fhr.nuc.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/08-001_PB-
AHTR_NE170_Design_Project_Rpt.pdf

328Background reading on process milestones for LFTR development:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_fluoride_thorium_reactor#Disadvantages

M. Schaffer. "Abundant thorium as an alternative nuclear fuel: Important waste disposal and
329

weapon proliferation advantages." Journal of Energy Policy, Volume 60. September, 2013,
pages 4-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2013.04.062

World Nuclear Association. “Thorium.” February, 2017. https://www.world-

nuclear.org/information-library/current-and-future-generation/thorium.aspx

Nuclearpower.net “Neutron Sources.” https://www.nuclear-power.net/nuclear-

330

power/reactor-physics/atomic-nuclear-physics/fundamental-particles/neutron/neutron-
sources/

331
Background reading on AmBe neutron sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americium-241#Neutron_source

Background reading on startup neutron sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Startup_neutron_source

332United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission. “License-exempt consumer product uses of

radioactive material.” https://www.nrc.gov/materials/miau/consumer-pdts.html#use

333Background reading on cryptographic hash comparisons:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_cryptographic_hash_functions

334U.S. Geological Survey on global water data + statistics.

https://water.usgs.gov/edu/earthhowmuch.html

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Background reading on electrolysis: https://energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/hydrogen-

335

production-electrolysis

Background reading on electrolysis: https://energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/hydrogen-

336

production-electrolysis

337Background reading on MSFD systems: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-

stage_flash_distillation

338Background reading on Multi-Stage Flash Distillation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-stage_flash_distillation

339Background reading on countercurrent exchanges:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countercurrent_exchange

340Background reading on countercurrent exchanges:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countercurrent_exchange

International Atomic Energy Agency. “Introduction of Nuclear Desalination.” Technical

341

Reports Series no 400. http://www-

pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/TRS400_scr.pdf#p57

International Desalination Association. “Desalination by the Numbers.” No date provided,

342

continually updated. http://idadesal.org/desalination-101/desalination-by-the-numbers/

343National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “Is Sea Level Rising?”

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/sealevel.html

344Alexandria Engineering Journal Volume 57, Issue 4, December 2018, Pages 2401-2413.
“Performance test of a sea water multi-stage flash distillation plant: Case study” A. El-Ghonemy.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1110016817302697

345Röchling Industrial. “Plastic for lightweight and corrosion resistant Subsea Equipment.”
https://www.roechling.com/industrial/industries/oil-and-gas/subsea/

346Washington Post. “Salt of the Sea, as Easy as Evaporation.” T. Haspel. 9 April, 2013.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/salt-of-the-sea-as-easy-as-
evaporation/2013/04/08/400f610e-9018-11e2-9cfd-
36d6c9b5d7ad_story.html?utm_term=.631d3705738c

347U.S. Geological Survey. “Mineral Commodity Summaries.” January, 2016.

https://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/salt/mcs-2016-salt.pdf

383
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348Data from The Economist on the price of salt worldwide.

http://www.economist.com/node/15276675

Science Times. “Hydrogen is the most comment element: here’s the reason why.” R.
349

Roy. 3 April, 2017. http://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/11524/20170403/hydrogen-is-the-

most-common-element-heres-the-reason-why.htm

350Background reading on energy density of substances:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_density

351Virginia Tech University. “Breakthrough in Hydrogen Fuel Production Could Revolutionize

Alternative Energy Market.” 4 April, 2013.
http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2013/04/040413-cals-
hydrogen.html?utm_campaign=Argyle%2BSocial-2013-
04&utm_content=shaybar&utm_medium=Argyle%2BSocial&utm_source=twitter&utm_ter
m=2013-04-04-08-30-00

352Background reading on hydrogen production through fossil-fuel steam reformation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_production#Steam_reforming

353OPEC. “Intervention by OPEC Secretary General to the 3rd Gas Summit of the GECF.”
http://www.opec.org/opec_web/en/3180.htm

354Background reading on Hall-Heroult process to extract substances via electrolysis.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hall%E2%80%93H%C3%A9roult_process

355Energy Information Administration. “Hydrogen explained.”

https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/hydrogen/production-of-hydrogen.php

356LibreTexts. “Reaction of Main Group Elements with Hydrogen.” 9 November, 2019.

https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Inorganic_Chemistry/Modules_and_Websites_(In
organic_Chemistry)/Descriptive_Chemistry/Main_Group_Reactions/Reactions_of_Main_G
roup_Elements_with_Hydrogen

United States Department of Energy. Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable

357

Energy.“Hydrogen Storage.” https://www.energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/hydrogen-storage

358Graphene is a single-atom-thick sheet of carbon-nanotube laid on a flat surface. It has

unrivaled strength and conductivity to both heat and electricity. Background reading may
be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphene

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359 Infographic on graphene: https://cleantechnica.com/files/2014/09/graphene.jpg

360“Batteries” technically require a chemical reaction to generate an electric charge.

Graphene’s storage potential is primarily capacitance. However, the phrase is
interchangeable in the contemporary lexicon, so “battery” is used in this context with a
degree of liberty.

361Phys.org “Engineers Prove Graphene is the Strongest Material.” https://phys.org/news/2008-

07-graphene-strongest-material.html

362W. Xiluan. G. Shi. “Flexible graphene devices related to energy conversion and storage.”
7 January, 2015.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270663402_Flexible_graphene_devices_related_t
o_energy_conversion_and_storage

363AIChE – The Global Home of Chemical Engineers. “Where Do Chemical Engineers Fit into
the Upstream Oil and Gas Industry?” K. Horner. 7 December, 2010.
https://www.aiche.org/chenected/2010/12/where-do-chemical-engineers-fit-upstream-oil-
and-gas-industry

364OPEC. “Intervention by OPEC Secretary General to the 3rd Gas Summit of the GECF.”
http://www.opec.org/opec_web/en/3180.htm

365Background reading on synthetic hydrocarbons:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_fuel

366 Background reading on fuel cell history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_cell#History

367 Setra systems, Inc. https://www.setra.com/

368Background reading on initial directives on Combined Heat and Power -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHP_Directive
Background reading on cogeneration: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cogeneration

369
Information on the number of Energy Utilities operating in the United States.
https://www.publicpower.org/system/files/documents/2018-Public-Power-Statistical-
Report-Updated.pdf

370
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. “Electric Power Markets.”
https://www.ferc.gov/market-assessments/mkt-electric/overview.asp

385
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371
Energy Information Administration. “What is U.S. electricity generation by energy source?”
https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=427&t=3

372General Electric. “GE Global Power Plant Efficiency Analysis.”

https://www.ge.com/reports/wp-content/themes/ge-reports/ge-power-
plant/dist/pdf/GE%20Global%20Power%20Plant%20Efficiency%20Analysis.pdf
Hosted on-site: https://nextgiantleap.org/sites/default/files/source_files/ ge_efficiency.pdf

National Petroleum Council. “Electric Generation Efficiency.” 18 July, 2007.

http://www.npc.org/Study_Topic_Papers/4-DTG-ElectricEfficiency.pdf
Hosted on-site: https://nextgiantleap.org/sites/default/files/source_files/ 4-DTG-
ElectricEfficiency.pdf

373Background reading on cogeneration within contemporary power-generating systems:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cogeneration#Types_of_plants

374Background reading on the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palo_Verde_Nuclear_Generating_Station

National Renewable Energy Laboratory. “REopt Optimizes Nuclear-Renewable Hybrid

375

Energy Systems.” https://reopt.nrel.gov/projects/case-study-nuclear.html

376Oak Ridge National Laboratory. “Update on SINAP TMSR Research.”

https://public.ornl.gov/conferences/msr2016/docs/Presentations/MSR2016-day1-15-
Hongjie-Xu-Update-on-SINAP-TMSR-Research.pdf#p3

377South China Morning Post. “China hopes cold war nuclear energy tech will power warships,
drones.” S. Chen. https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2122977/china-hopes-
cold-war-nuclear-energy-tech-will-power-warships

China Daily. “China among the countries looking to thorium as new nuclear fuel.” K. Wilson. 25
October, 2018.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201810/25/WS5bd11cf3a310eff3032846d1.html

Next Big Future. “China spending US$3.3 billion on molten salt nuclear reactors for faster aircraft
carriers and in flying drones.” B. Wang. 6 December, 2017.
https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2017/12/china-spending-us3-3-billion-on-molten-salt-
nuclear-reactors-for-faster-aircraft-carriers-and-in-flying-drones.html

386
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378Next Big Future. “China spending US$3.3 billion on molten salt nuclear reactors for faster
aircraft carriers and in flying drones.” B. Wang. 6 December, 2017.
https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2017/12/china-spending-us3-3-billion-on-molten-salt-
nuclear-reactors-for-faster-aircraft-carriers-and-in-flying-drones.html

379 Next Big Future. “China spending US$3.3 billion on molten salt nuclear reactors for faster
aircraft carriers and in flying drones.” B. Wang. 6 December, 2017.
https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2017/12/china-spending-us3-3-billion-on-molten-salt-
nuclear-reactors-for-faster-aircraft-carriers-and-in-flying-drones.html
380 Phys.org. “Thorium reactors may dispose of enormous amounts of weapons-grade plutonium.”

Tomsk Polytechnic University. 22 January, 2018. https://phys.org/news/2018-01-thorium-

reactors-dispose-enormous-amounts.html

Masters, Gilbert (2004). Renewable and efficient electric power systems. New York:
381

Wiley-IEEE Press. https://www.amazon.com/Renewable-Efficient-Electric-Power-

Systems/dp/1118140621

382Background reading on the CHP Directive:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHP_Directive

Government of the United Kingdom. “Combined Heat and Power Quality Assurance
383

Programme.” Last updated 17 October, 2019. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/combined-heat-

power-quality-assurance-programme

384Government of the United Kingdom. “Combined Heat and Power Incentives.” Last
updated 1 April, 2019. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/combined-heat-and-power-
incentives

385“Advantages of liquid fluoride thorium reactor in comparison with light water reactor.” 29
April, 2015. AIP Conference Proceedings 1659, 040001 (2015);
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4916861

386NASA. “Scientific Consensus: Earth’s Climate is Warming.”

https://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus/

387Link to larger concept image of CHP Plant:

http://nextgiantleap.org/sites/default/files/bookchapters/cogeneration/energy_plant.jpg

390NASA. “The Causes of Climate Change.” Last update 2 October, 2019.

https://climate.nasa.gov/causes/

387
 The Next Giant Leap

391NASA. Global Climate Change. Vital Signs of the Planet. “Ice Sheets.”
https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/ice-sheets/

392 NASA. “The Effects of Climate Change.” https://climate.nasa.gov/effects/

393The Guardian. “Americans ‘under siege’ from climate disinformation – former NASA chief
scientist.” H. Devlin. 8 June, 2017.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/jun/08/americans-under-siege-from-climate-
disinformation-former-nasa-chief-scientist

394CDP. “CDP Carbon Majors Report 2017.” P. Griffin. July, 2017.

https://www.cdp.net/en/articles/media/new-report-shows-just-100-companies-are-source-
of-over-70-of-emissions

395Mining Congress Journal. “Air pollution and the coal industry.” J. Allen Overton, Jr. 1966.
P. 56. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6554117-Mining-Congress-Journal-
August-1965-Air.html#document/p6/a536518

396NASA. “Graphic: Carbon dioxide hits new high.”

https://climate.nasa.gov/climate_resources/7/graphic-carbon-dioxide-hits-new-high/

Forbes Magazine. “Three Reasons Oil Will Continue To Run The World.” J. Clemente. 19
397

April, 2015. https://www.forbes.com/sites/judeclemente/2015/04/19/three-reasons-oil-will-

continue-to-run-the-world/#530c4b7143f9

Nature science journal. “Sucking carbon dioxide from air is cheaper than scientists thought.” J.
398

Tollefson. 7 June, 2018. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05357-w

399Nature science journal. “Commercial boost for firms that suck carbon from air.” D. Cressey.
14 October, 2015. https://www.nature.com/news/commercial-boost-for-firms-that-suck-
carbon-from-air-1.18551

400D. Keith, G. Holmes, D. St. Angelo, K. Heidel. “A Process for Capturing CO2 from the
Atmosphere.” 7 June, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2018.05.006
https://www.cell.com/joule/fulltext/S2542-4351(18)30225-3

401 Climate Engineering. “Our technology.” https://carbonengineering.com/our-technology/

402Climeworks corporation. “Our Products – Climeworks Plant.”

https://www.climeworks.com/our-products/

388
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403California Institute of Technology. “Carbon Conversion.” 3 August, 2017.

https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/carbon-conversion-79223

404DesignNews. “CO2 Converted to Solid Carbon.” K. Clemens. 1 March, 2019.

https://www.designnews.com/batteryenergy-storage/co2-converted-solid-
carbon/206299923860346

405MIT Technology Review. “Startups looking to suck CO2 from the air are suddenly luring big
bucks.” J. Temple. 2 May, 2019. https://www.technologyreview.com/s/613447/startups-
looking-to-suck-c02-from-the-air-are-suddenly-luring-big-bucks/

406 Climate Engineering. “Uses.” https://carbonengineering.com/uses/

407Phys.org. “Pressure mounts on aviation industry over climate change.” S. Wolf, M. Abbugao.
9 June, 2019. https://phys.org/news/2019-06-pressure-mounts-aviation-industry-
climate.html

Nature science journal. “Sucking carbon dioxide from air is cheaper than scientists thought.” J.
408

Tollefson. 7 June, 2018. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05357-w

409 See Appendix Section A4 for a pricing breakdown of Universal Energy.

410Faucet Boss. “What is the average flow rate of faucets?” 27 November, 2018.
https://www.faucetboss.com/faucet-flow-rate/

411
Faucet Boss. “What is the average flow rate of faucets?” 27 November, 2018.
https://www.faucetboss.com/faucet-flow-rate/

412USGS. “What are zebra muscles and why should we care about them?”
https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-are-zebra-mussels-and-why-should-we-care-about-
them?qt-news_science_products=0#qt-news_science_products

413Background reading on the Bath County Pumped Storage Station:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_County_Pumped_Storage_Station

414See Appendix, A4, on page 315 for a breakdown of power-generating capacity and costs
thereof.

415National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, Medicine. National Academies Press.

Assessing and Managing the Ecological Impacts of Paved Roads. Chapter 2: History and
Status of the U.S. Road System. P. 41 https://www.nap.edu/read/11535/chapter/4

389
 The Next Giant Leap

416 Link to Lucid Energy corporation: http://lucidenergy.com/

417Slate magazine. “Lake Mead Before and After the Epic Drought.” E. Holthaus. 25 July, 2014.
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2014/07/lake_mead_before_and_aft
er_colorado_river_basin_losing_water_at_shocking.html.

418Engineering Toolbox. “Specific Heat of Some Liquids and Fuels.”

https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/specific-heat-fluids-d_151.html

419Background reading on thermal energy storage:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_energy_storage

420Marlow Engineering. “Technical Data Sheet for EHBMS.”

https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/547732/Data_Sheets/EHBMS.pdf

421See Appendix, A4, on page 315 for a breakdown of power-generating capacity and costs
thereof.

422Engineering toolbox is a fantastic site to help calculate various engineering-related

formulas. In the case of water: https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/energy-storage-water-
d_1463.html

423 Dr. Dickson Despommier. “The Vertical Farm.” 25 October, 2011.

http://www.verticalfarm.com/

424AG Funder News “The Economics of Local Vertical and Greenhouse Farming Are
Getting Competitive.” P. Tasgal, 3 April, 2019. https://agfundernews.com/the-economics-
of-local-vertical-and-greenhouse-farming-are-getting-competitive.html

425Tesla’s automotive factory is 5.3 million square feet (~492,380 square meters).
https://www.tesla.com/factory.

426Government of the United Kingdom. Food Standards Agency. “Arsenic in Rice.”

https://www.food.gov.uk/safety-hygiene/arsenic-in-rice

National Institute of Health. “Effect of growth promotants on the occurrence of endogenous and
synthetic steroid hormones on feedlot soils and in runoff from beef cattle feeding operations.”
Multiple authors. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22242694

427Vox Magazine. “This company wants to build a giant indoor farm next to every major city in
the world.” D. Roberts. 11 April, 2018. https://www.vox.com/energy-and-
environment/2017/11/8/16611710/vertical-farms

390
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428Vox Magazine. “This company wants to build a giant indoor farm next to every major city in
the world.” D. Roberts. 11 April, 2018. https://www.vox.com/energy-and-
environment/2017/11/8/16611710/vertical-farms

429Agriculture, Technology and Investment News. “Vertical farming startup plenty acquires
bright aggrotech to scale.” E. Cosgrove. 13 June, 2017. https://agfundernews.com/breaking-
vertical-farming-startup-plenty-acquires-bright-agrotech-scale.html

430Vox Magazine. “This company wants to build a giant indoor farm next to every major city in
the world.” D. Roberts. 11 April, 2018. https://www.vox.com/energy-and-
environment/2017/11/8/16611710/vertical-farms

431Vox Magazine. “This company wants to build a giant indoor farm next to every major city in
the world.” D. Roberts. 11 April, 2018. https://www.vox.com/energy-and-
environment/2017/11/8/16611710/vertical-farms

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Multistate Outbreak of Listeriosis Linked to
432

Whole Cantaloupes from Jensen Farms, Colorado.” 27 August, 2012.

433United States Department of Agriculture. “Summary of Recall Cases in Calendar Year

2018.” https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/recalls-and-public-health-
alerts/recall-summaries

434Food and Drug Administration. “Consumer Info About Food From Genetically Engineered
Plants.” 1 April, 2018. https://www.fda.gov/food/food-new-plant-varieties/consumer-info-
about-food-genetically-engineered-plants

435Wired Magazine. “Monsanto’s newest GM crops may create more problems than they solve.”
B. Keim. 2 February, 2015. https://www.wired.com/2015/02/new-gmo-crop-controversy/

436 Michigan State University Extension. “Urban farming practices developed in France in 1850
still are used in cities today.” R. Bell. 20 June, 2013.
http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/urban_farming_practices_developed_in_france_in_1850_sti
ll_are_used_in_citie

437Links to vertical farms, respectively in London, Chicago, Milan and Newark:

http://growup.org.uk/
http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2014/06/23/vertical-farming-s-rise-chicago
https://inhabitat.com/bosco-verticale-in-milan-will-be-the-worlds-first-vertical-forest/
http://aerofarms.com/

391
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438AG Funder News “The Economics of Local Vertical and Greenhouse Farming Are
Getting Competitive.” P. Tasgal, 3 April, 2019. https://agfundernews.com/the-economics-
of-local-vertical-and-greenhouse-farming-are-getting-competitive.html

Link to Bosco Verticale towers in Milan: https://inhabitat.com/bosco-verticale-in-milan-

439

will-be-the-worlds-first-vertical-forest/

Dwell Magazine. “New York City Passes Bill Requiring Green Roofs on New Buildings.” J.
440

Tuohy. 23 April, 2019. https://www.dwell.com/article/new-york-city-requires-green-roofs-

on-new-buildings-ede4deb8

Thomas Publishing Company. “How Cities are Driving Growth and the Green Roofing
441

Market.” 12 February, 2019. https://www.thomasnet.com/insights/how-cities-are-driving-

growth-in-the-green-roofing-market/

442Scientific American. “Why are asthma rates soaring?” V. Greenwood. 1 April, 2011.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-are-asthma-rates-soaring/

Background multimedia on China’s “Forest City.” BBC. “China’s Forest city.” 5 July,
443

2017. http://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-40498186/china-s-forest-city

Background multimedia on China’s “Forest City.” BBC. “China’s Forest city.” 5 July,
444

2017. http://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-40498186/china-s-forest-city

445Biofuels Digest. “10 Top Strategic Investors in Biofuels & Materials.” 6 June, 2011.
http://www.biofuelsdigest.com/bdigest/2011/06/06/10-top-strategic-investors-in-biofuels-
materials/

446 Background reading on bioplastics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioplastic

447 Link to Algenol corporation: http://algenol.com/

448Washington Post. “A Promosing Oil Alternative: Algae Energy.” 6 January, 2008.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2008/01/03/AR2008010303907.html

449 Background reading on chlorella: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorella

450 Background reading on chlorella: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorella

392
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451Belasco, Warren (July 1997). "Algae Burgers for a Hungry World? The Rise and Fall of
Chlorella Cuisine". Technology and Culture. 38 (3): 608–34.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/3106856

452Background reading on GMO controversies:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetically_modified_food_controversies

453 Background reading on Glyphosate: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyphosate

454 Background reading on glyphosate. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyphosate

455Smithsonian Magazine. “Scientists Turn Algae into Crude Oil in Less Than an Hour.” T.
Nguyen. 31 December, 2013. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/scientists-turn-
algae-into-crude-oil-in-less-than-an-hour-180948282/?no-ist

456B. Mooney. “The second green revolution? Production of plant-based biodegradable plastics.”
Biochem J (2009) 418 (2): 219–232. https://doi.org/10.1042/BJ20081769

Background reading on percent yield: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yield_(engineering)

457L. Christenson, R. Sims, “Production and harvesting of microalgae for wastewater treatment,
biofuels, and bioproducts.” Journal of Biotechnology Advances. Vol 29, Issue 6. December
2011. Pp 686-702. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biotechadv.2011.05.015

Background reading on polymerization: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymerization

458BBC. “E. Coli Bacteria ‘Can Produce Diesel Biofuel’.” R. Morelle. 22 April, 2013.
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-22253746

459MIT Technology Review. “Making Gasoline from Bacteria.” N. Savage. 1 August, 2017.
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/408334/making-gasoline-from-bacteria/

460V. Lorenzo. “Cleaning up behind us The potential of genetically modified bacteria to

break down toxic pollutants in the environment.” EMBO Rep. 2001 May 15; 2(5): 357–359.
doi: 10.1093/embo-reports/kve100. 15 May, 2011.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1083894/

461 Background reading on ocean garbage: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_debris

462J. Hopewell, R. Dvorak, E. Kosior. “Plastics recycling: challenges and opportunities.” Philos
Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2009 Jul 27; 364(1526): 2115–2126. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2008.0311.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2873020/

393
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Background reading on percent yield in chemistry.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yield_(chemistry). P

Plastics Technology. “What’s Your Production Efficiency?” R. Hirschfeld. 7 January, 1999.

https://www.ptonline.com/articles/what's-your-production-efficiency

463Plastics Technology. “What’s Your Production Efficiency?” R. Hirschfeld. 7 January, 1999.

https://www.ptonline.com/articles/what's-your-production-efficiency

464History of computing hardware (1960s – present):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_computing_hardware_(1960s%E2%80%93presen
t)

465Chemical Engineering Magazine. “Artificial Intelligence: A New Reality for Chemical

Engineers.” M. Bailey. 1 February, 2019. https://www.chemengonline.com/artificial-
intelligence-new-reality-chemical-engineers/

466 Molecule.one – chemical synthesis company using machine learning.

467D-Wave systems. Background information on quantum computing.

https://www.dwavesys.com/quantum-computing

468D-Wave systems. Background information on quantum computing.

https://www.dwavesys.com/quantum-computing

TechCrunch. “The reality of quantum computing could be just three years away.” J. Shieber. 7
469

September, 2018. https://techcrunch.com/2018/09/07/the-reality-of-quantum-computing-

could-be-just-three-years-away/

470Instructions per second:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instructions_per_second#Timeline_of_instructions_per_seco
nd

Futurism. “AI is learning quantum mechanics to design new molecules.” D. Robitzski. 22

471

November, 2019. https://futurism.com/the-byte/ai-quantum-mechanics-design-molecules

472Scientific American. “Biofuel from Bacteria.” D. Biello. 1 April, 2010.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/biofuel-from-bacteria/

394
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Solar Energy Research Institute. “Formation of Hydrocarbons by Bacteria and Algae.” T.

Tornabene. December, 1980. https://www.nrel.gov/docs/legosti/old/999.pdf#p13

473
N. Browning, R. Ramakrishnan, et al. “Genetic Optimization of Training Sets for Improved
Machine Learning Models of Molecular Properties.” J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2018, 9, 22, 6480-6488
October 29, 2018 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.8b02956

474Scientific American. “Making Plastic as Strong as Steel.” L. Greenemeier. 11 October, 2007.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/making-plastic-as-strong/

475 Link to Line-X product lines: http://www.linex.com/line-x-for-manufacturers

476Video demonstrations of Line-X spray:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=linex+demonstration

477 Background reading on FR-4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FR-4

478Monarch Metal Fabrication. “Types of Metal Strength.” C. Smith. 24 August, 2016.

https://www.monarchmetal.com/blog/types-of-metal-strength/

479Plastics international datasheet on FR-4.

https://www.plasticsintl.com/datasheets/Phenolic_G10_FR4.pdf ***BROKEN LINK

480Axion Structural Innovations. Background information on synthetic wood.

http://www.axionsi.com/

481Journal of Materials Science and Nanomaterials. “High-Temperature Structure Materials

Beyond Nickel Base Supperalloy.” G. Ouyang. 15 October, 2017.
https://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/high-temperature-structure-materials-beyond-
nickel-base-superalloy.pdf

482Popular Mechanics. “Scientists Invent a New Steel as Strong as Titanium.” W. Herkewitz. 4

February, 2015. https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/news/a13919/new-steel-
alloy-titanium/

New Scientist. “New alloys could lead to next generation of nuke plant metals.” J. Emspak. 18
483

March, 2016. https://www.newscientist.com/article/2081605-new-alloys-could-lead-to-next-

generation-of-nuke-plant-metals/

484Columbia University News. “Columbia Engineers Prove Graphene is the Strongest Material.”
21 July, 2008. http://www.columbia.edu/cu/news/08/07/graphene.html

395
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485Graphenea corporation. “Properties of Graphene.” J. Fuente.

https://www.graphenea.com/pages/graphene-properties#.XZ7FJudKhTY

Android Community. “Samsung Producing Graphene, the Material for Flexible Displays.” N.
486

Swanner. 4 April, 2014. https://androidcommunity.com/samsung-producing-graphene-the-

material-for-flexible-displays-20140404/

487ComputerWorld. “Graphene sticky notes may offer 32GB capacity you can write on.” L.
Mearian. 18 December, 2013. https://www.computerworld.com/article/2486937/graphene-
sticky-notes-may-offer-32gb-capacity-you-can-write-on.html

488MIT Technology Review. “Graphene Antennas Would Enable Terabit Wireless Downloads.”
D. Talbot. 5 March, 2013. https://www.technologyreview.com/s/511726/graphene-
antennas-would-enable-terabit-wireless-downloads/

489MIT Technology Review. “Graphene Antennas Would Enable Terabit Wireless Downloads.”
D. Talbot. 5 March, 2013. https://www.technologyreview.com/s/511726/graphene-
antennas-would-enable-terabit-wireless-downloads/

490MedGadget. “Graphene: The Next Medical Revolution.” R. Peleg. 20 May, 2015.

http://www.medgadget.com/2015/05/graphene-next-medical-revolution.html

491Q. Ke. J. Wang. “Graphene-based materials for supercapacitor electrodes – a review.” Journal
of Materiomics, Volume 2, Issue 1. March, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmat.2016.01.001

492Middle East Technical University, Turkey. Nanonotes. “Lithium-Ion batteries vs. graphene
batteries.” O. Kutun. 23 July, 2019. https://blog.metu.edu.tr/e207651/2019/07/23/lithium-ion-
batteries-vs-graphene-batteries/

493HyperTextbook. “How thick is a sheet of printer paper”?

https://hypertextbook.com/facts/2001/JuliaSherlis.shtml

494HyperTextbook. “How thick is a sheet of printer paper”?

https://hypertextbook.com/facts/2001/JuliaSherlis.shtml

495Stack Sports. “How many acres in a football field?” https://www.stack.com/a/how-many-

acres-is-a-football-field

396
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Nanotechnology Journal. Volume 28, Number 44. “Graphene supercapacitor with both high
496

power and energy density.” H. Yang, S. Kannappan, A. Pandian, J. Hyung Jang, Y. Sung Lee
and W. Lu. 4 October, 2017. http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6528/aa8948 Link
two: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28854156

497Union of Concern Scientists. “Electric Vehicles, batteries, cobalt, and rare earth metals.”
J. Goldman. 25 October, 2017. https://blog.ucsusa.org/josh-goldman/electric-vehicles-
batteries-cobalt-and-rare-earth-metals

Scientific American. “More Recycling Won’t Solve Plastic Pollution.” M. Wilkins. 6 July,
498

2018. https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/more-recycling-wont-solve-plastic-
pollution/

499WIRED magazine. “High-powered Plasma Turns Garbage Into Gas.” D. Wolman. 20

January, 2012. https://www.wired.com/2012/01/ff_trashblaster/

500Background reading on gasification slag.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slag#Modern_uses

Waldheim Consulting. “Industrial Biomass Gasification Activities in Sweden 1997-2009.”

501

ANNEX 1 to IEA Biomass Agreement Task 33 Country Report Sweden 2012

502Government of Sweden. “The Swedish Recycling Revolution.” No date or author provided.

https://sweden.se/nature/the-swedish-recycling-revolution/

503 Table data source: Limpopo Eco-Industrial Park. http://limpopoecoindustrialpark.com/

504
National Geographic. “Ocean Gyre.”
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/ocean-gyre/

505Reuters. “World’s fish consumption unsustainable, U.N. warns.” T. Win. 9 July, 2018.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-fisheries-hunger/worlds-fish-consumption-
unsustainable-u-n-warns-idUSKBN1JZ0YA

506 Background reading on the Ocean Cleanup Project. https://www.theoceancleanup.com/

507Background reading on Circular Economies:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_economy

508Geissdoerfer, Martin; Savaget, Paulo; Bocken, Nancy M. P.; Hultink, Erik Jan (2017-02-
01). “The Circular Economy – A new sustainability paradigm?” Journal of Cleaner Production.
143: 757–768. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.12.048.

397
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509Ellen MacArthur Foundation. “Towards the Circular Economy: an economic and business
rationale for an accelerated transition.” Vol 1. Release date 2013.
https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/assets/downloads/publications/Ellen-
MacArthur-Foundation-Towards-the-Circular-Economy-vol.1.pdf

510 Background reading on 3D printing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printing

Singularity Hub. “New progress in the biggest challenge with 3D printed organs.” E Gent. 7
511

May, 2019. https://singularityhub.com/2019/05/07/new-progress-in-the-biggest-challenge-

with-3d-printed-organs/

512University of Washington. "Transforming titanium with 3D printing." C. Yates. 28

October, 2019. https://www.engr.washington.edu/news/article/2019-10-28/transforming-
titanium-with-3D-printing
Advanced Science News. "A new copper-titanium alloy enables 3D printing." M. Grolms. 3
February, 2020. https://www.advancedsciencenews.com/a-new-copper-titanium-alloy-
enables-3d-printing/
MarkForged Corporation. “Complete 3D Metal Printing Solution.”
https://markforged.com/metal-x/

513MarkForged Corporation. “Complete 3D Metal Printing Solution.”

https://markforged.com/metal-x/. See also:
University of Washington. "Transforming titanium with 3D printing." C. Yates. 28 October,
2019. https://www.engr.washington.edu/news/article/2019-10-28/transforming-titanium-
with-3D-printing
Advanced Science News. "A new copper-titanium alloy enables 3D printing." M. Grolms. 3
February, 2020. https://www.advancedsciencenews.com/a-new-copper-titanium-alloy-
enables-3d-printing/

514Science Direct. “Selective Laser Melting.” Myriad articles of varying dates.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/materials-science/selective-laser-melting

515 Background reading on prefabrication: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefabrication

516IBISWorld. “Prefabricated Home Manufacturing In the US industry trends (2015-2020).

January, 2020. https://www.ibisworld.com/united-states/market-research-
reports/prefabricated-home-manufacturing-industry/

517Fixr magazine. “How Much Does it Cost to Build a Single-Family Home?”

https://www.fixr.com/costs/build-single-family-house

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Wired Magazine. "How Boeing builds a 737 in just 9 days." J. Stewart. 27 September,
518

2016. https://www.wired.com/2016/09/boeing-builds-737-just-nine-days/
Timelapse of 737 construction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liZ0WEEsuz4

519The Post and Courier. "Pace of 787 Dreamliner production quickens and Boeing's North
Charlson campus." D. Wren. 1 April, 2018.
https://www.postandcourier.com/business/pace-of-dreamliner-production-quickens-at-
boeing-s-north-charleston/article_02b584ea-3384-11e8-a3d4-ff9ca36dc590.html

Boeing corp information on Everett production facility.

http://www.boeing.com/company/about-bca/everett-production-facility.page.

520Seattle Times. "Flawed analysis, failed oversight: How Boeing, FAA certified the suspect
737 MAX flight control system." D. Gates. 17 March, 2019.
https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/failed-certification-faa-missed-
safety-issues-in-the-737-max-system-implicated-in-the-lion-air-crash/

Forbes Magazine. "Ex-Boeing 737 MAX Engineer says team was pressured to cut costs as
grounding continues." I. Togoh. 29 July, 2019.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/isabeltogoh/2019/07/29/ex-boeing-engineer-says-workers-
were-pressured-to-keep-costs-down-amid-737-max-grounding/#59d12a1d2e9a
New York Times. "Boeing 737 MAX factory was plagued with problems, whistle-blower
says." D Gates. 29 January, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/09/business/boeing-
737-max-whistleblower.html

WIRED magazine. “Meet The Man Who Built a 30-Story Building in 15 days.” L. Hilgers. 25
521

September, 2012. https://www.wired.com/2012/09/broad-sustainable-building-instant-

skyscraper/

522
According to Budweiser and several sources, it takes Anheuser-Busch approximately 30
days to brew a bottle of beer. https://www.cnbc.com/2008/07/02/Brewing-the-King-of-
Beers.html / https://thefederalist.com/2015/02/18/making-the-case-for-budweiser/

523PSE Consulting Engineers. “What happens to used shipping containers?”

https://www.structure1.com/projects/shipping-container-homes/what-happens-to-used-
shipping-containers/

Containerhomeplans.org. “The Cheapest 5 Shipping Container Homes Ever Built.” 15 July,

524

2015. https://www.containerhomeplans.org/2015/07/the-cheapest-5-shipping-container-
homes-ever-built/

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525Curbed magazine. “This Ravishing Mod Pad is Actually a $40k Container Home.” J. Xie. 30
July, 2015. http://www.curbed.com/2015/7/30/9935524/best-shipping-container-homes

Singularity Hub. “This 3D printed house goes up in a day for under $10,000.” V. Ramirez. 18
526

March, 2018. https://singularityhub.com/2018/03/18/this-3d-printed-house-goes-up-in-a-

day-for-under-10000

Singularity Hub. “This 3D printed house goes up in a day for under $10,000.” V. Ramirez. 18
527

March, 2018. https://singularityhub.com/2018/03/18/this-3d-printed-house-goes-up-in-a-

day-for-under-10000

Singularity Hub. “This 3D printed house goes up in a day for under $10,000.” V. Ramirez. 18
528

March, 2018. https://singularityhub.com/2018/03/18/this-3d-printed-house-goes-up-in-a-

day-for-under-10000

Singularity Hub. “See how this house was 3D printed in Just 24 hours.” V. Ramirez. 5
529

March, 2017. https://singularityhub.com/2017/03/05/watch-this-house-get-3d-printed-in-24-

hours/

Inhabitat magazine. “Dubai debuts world’s first fully 3D-printed building.” C. DiStasio. 24
530

May, 2016. https://inhabitat.com/dubai-debuts-worlds-first-fully-3d-printed-building/

Singularity Hub. “This 3D printed house goes up in a day for under $10,000.” V. Ramirez. 18
531

March, 2018. https://singularityhub.com/2018/03/18/this-3d-printed-house-goes-up-in-a-

day-for-under-10000

532 PBS. “Breaking poverty: Crime, poverty often linked.” J. Mitchell, The Philadelphia Tribune.
18 September, 2018. https://whyy.org/articles/breaking-poverty-crime-poverty-often-
linked/
533 Congress for the New Urbanism. “The Little House That Could.” R. Steuteville. 3

February, 2016. https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/little-house-could

Disasters Emergency Committee. “Haiti Earthquake Facts and Figures.” No date or author
534

provided. https://www.dec.org.uk/articles/haiti-earthquake-facts-and-figures

535NBC News Investigations. “What Does Haiti Have to Show for $13 Billion in Earthquake
Aid?” T. Connor, H. Rappleye and E. Angulo. 12 January, 2015.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/what-does-haiti-have-show-13-billion-
earthquake-aid-n281661

536Y Charts. “U.S. Existing Single-Family Home Average Sales Price.”

https://ycharts.com/indicators/us_existing_singlefamily_home_average_sales_price

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537CNN Money. “It’s Getting More Expensive to be a Renter.” K. Vasel. 21 May, 2015.
http://money.cnn.com/2015/05/21/real_estate/rent-prices-rising/

538Endhomelessness.org. “Homelessness In America” Facts, figures and statistics.

https://endhomelessness.org/homelessness-in-america/

539Huffington Post. “U.S. Spending Historic Amount Fighting Homelessness, and it’s Working:
Report.” R. Couch. 3 April, 2015.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/03/homelessness-report-2015_n_6987576.html

540U.S. Department of Defense. “DOD Releases Fiscal Year 2020 Budget Proposal.” 19 March,
2020. https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Releases/Release/Article/1782623/dod-releases-
fiscal-year-2020-budget-proposal/

541National Coalition for the Homeless. “Substance Abuse and Homelessness.” July 2009.
https://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/addiction.pdf

542Nature Journal. “Oldest Homo sapiens fossil claim rewrites our species' history.” E. Callaway.
7 June, 2017. https://www.nature.com/news/oldest-homo-sapiens-fossil-claim-rewrites-
our-species-history-1.22114

543American Society of Civil Engineers. “America’s Infrastructure Grades Remain Near

Failing.” 9 March, 2017. https://www.asce.org/templates/press-release-detail.aspx?id=24013

Craftsman Books. “2017 National Building Cost Manual” 41st edition. Edited by B.
544

Moselle. https://www.craftsman-
book.com/media/static/previews/2017_NBC_book_preview.pdf

545CleanTechnica. “Scandanavia is Home to Heavy-Duty Electric Construction Equipment &

Truck Development.” S. Hanley. 30 January, 2018.
https://cleantechnica.com/2018/01/30/scandinavia-home-heavy-duty-electric-construction-
equipment-truck-development/

Craftsman Books. “2017 National Building Cost Manual” 41st edition. Edited by B.
546

Moselle. https://www.craftsman-
book.com/media/static/previews/2017_NBC_book_preview.pdf

547Government of Maryland. “William Preston Lane Jr. Memorial (Bay) Bridge.”

http://www.mdta.maryland.gov/toll_facilities/wpl.html

548 Figure sourced according to Google Maps

401
 The Next Giant Leap

549 Time estimation from Google Maps.

550Colorado Department of Transportation. “Eisenhower Tunnel Traffic Counts.”

https://www.codot.gov/travel/eisenhower-tunnel/eisenhower-tunnel-traffic-counts.html

551Colorado Department of Transportation. Eisenhower tunnel total traffic counts.

https://www.codot.gov/travel/eisenhower-tunnel/eisenhower-tunnel-traffic-counts.html

552Femern Inc. https://femern.com/en/News-and-press/2018/December/German-approval-

of-the-Fehmarnbelt-tunnel-ready-to-be-signed

553Information on Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link:

Railway Gazette. “Fehmarn Belt Tunnel Contract Awards Authorized.” 4 March, 2016.
http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/infrastructure/single-view/view/fehmarn-belt-
tunnel-contract-awards-authorised.html

Information on Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Crossing:

Industry Tap. “World’s Longest and Tallest Single-Arch Bridge Coming to Dubai in 2015.” D.
Schilling. 7 November, 2013.

554Background reading on Channel rail tunnel, Seikan tunnel and Gotthard Base tunnel:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_Tunnel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seikan_Tunnel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotthard_Base_Tunnel

555Background reading on the English Channel:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Channel#Nature

556Background reading on submerged floating tunnels:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submerged_floating_tunnel

557WIRED magazine. “Yes, a ‘Submerged Floating Bridge’ is a Reasonable Way to Cross a Fjord.’
A. Marshall. 14 July, 2016. https://www.wired.com/2016/07/submerged-floating-bridge-
isnt-worst-idea-norways-ever/#slide-2

558Background reading on internet backbones:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_backbone

559Freepress. “Save the Internet.” Background information on Net Neutrality.

https://www.savetheinternet.com/net-neutrality

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 The Next Giant Leap

Vice Magazine. “Republican Anti-Net Neutrality Crusade Advances in Congress.” S. Gustin. 11

February, 2016. https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/jpgm83/republicans-in-
congress-push-back-against-net-neutrality

560Fiber Optic Solutions. “How fast fiber optic cable speed is.” 26 April, 2018.
http://www.fiber-optic-solutions.com/fast-fiber-optic-cable-speed.html

Inhabitat Magazine. “One9: Nine-Story Prefab Apartment Tower was Installed in Just Five
561

Days.” L. Wang. 25 July, 2014. https://inhabitat.com/one9-nine-story-prefab-apartment-

tower-was-installed-in-just-five-days/?variation=d

Kansas City Star. “MAC Properties Opens New Imported Modular Apartments in
562

Midtown KC”. D. Stafford. 21 June, 2017. http://centric.build/kcstar-2017june21/

563National Association of Home Builders. “How Long Does it Take to Build a Single-Family
Home?” N. Zhao. 17 August, 2015. http://eyeonhousing.org/2015/08/how-long-does-it-take-
to-build-a-single-family-home/

CityMetric. “Three Million People Move to Cities Every Week. So How Can Cities Plan for
564

Migrants?” M. Collyer. 3 December, 2015. http://www.citymetric.com/skylines/three-

million-people-move-cities-every-week-so-how-can-cities-plan-migrants-1546

565New York Post. “New York’s Modular Building Revolution is Here.” S. Lubell. 13
September, 2018. https://nypost.com/2018/09/13/new-yorks-modular-building-revolution-
is-here/

566Wired Magazine “The World’s Tallest Modular Building May Teach Cities to Build
Cheaper Housing.” E. Stinton Design. 21 November, 2016.
https://www.wired.com/2016/11/cities-can-learn-worlds-tallest-modular-building/

567 Background reading on megacities: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megacity

Background reading on quality of life indexes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where-to-

568

be-born_Index

569Background reading on wealth inequality in the United States:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_inequality_in_the_United_States

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570U.N. “World’s Population Increasingly Urban With More Than Half Living in Urban Areas.”
10 July, 2014. http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/news/population/world-
urbanization-prospects-2014.html

571U.N. “World’s Population Increasingly Urban With More Than Half Living in Urban Areas.”
10 July, 2014. http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/news/population/world-
urbanization-prospects-2014.html

572Background reading on self-driving car initiatives: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-

driving_car

573Fast Company Magazine. “Humans were to blame in Google self-driving car crash, police
say.” 5 April, 2018. https://www.fastcompany.com/40568609/humans-were-to-blame-in-
google-self-driving-car-crash-police-say

574Forbes Magazine. “Uber will resume testing self-driving cars.” D. Silver. 3 November, 2018.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidsilver/2018/11/03/uber-will-resume-self-driving-car-
testing-in-pennsylvania/#12b330b63d7e

575Federal Highway Administration. Office of Highway Policy Information – Highway

Statistics 2016. https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics/2016/vm1.cfm

576Forbes Magazine, citing Carinsurance.com. “How Many Times Will You Crash Your Car?”
D. Toups. 27 July, 2011. https://www.forbes.com/sites/moneybuilder/2011/07/27/how-
many-times-will-you-crash-your-car/

577CDC. “Impaired Driving: Get the Facts.” No author or publication date provided.
https://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/impaired_driving/impaired-drv_factsheet.html

578 Background reading on maglev transportation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maglev

Washington Post. “Why the United States will never have high-speed rail.” M. McArdle. 12
579

February, 2019. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/02/13/why-united-states-

will-never-have-high-speed-rail/

580SpaceX. Whitepaper on Hyperloop Alpha.

http://www.spacex.com/sites/spacex/files/hyperloop_alpha-20130812.pdf

581Space-X. Hyperloop Alpha.

https://www.spacex.com/sites/spacex/files/hyperloop_alpha.pdf

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 The Next Giant Leap

WIRED magazine. “Hyperloop’s First Real Test is a Whooshing Success.” A. Davies. 12 July,
582

2017. https://www.wired.com/story/hyperloop-one-test-success/

Two companies currently working on Hyperloop prototypes:

583

Virgin Hyperloop One: https://hyperloop-one.com/

Hyperloop Transportation Technologies: https://www.hyperloop.global/

584Cirrus Aircraft. Innovation and Smart Safety.

https://cirrusaircraft.com/innovation/smart-safety/

585Dan Johnson Aviation. “Crumple Zones Coming to Light Aircraft.” 12 August, 2014.
https://www.bydanjohnson.com/crumple-zones-coming-to-light-aircraft/

586CNET. “RC Car Transforms Into a Quadcopter.” M. Starr. 28 May, 2013.

https://www.cnet.com/news/rc-car-transforms-into-a-quadcopter/

New York Times. “Think Amazon’s Drone Delivery Idea is a Gimmick? Think Again.” F.
587

Manjoo. 10 August, 2016. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/11/technology/think-

amazons-drone-delivery-idea-is-a-gimmick-think-again.html

588Flight Deck Fiend. “Can A Plane Land Automatically?”

https://www.flightdeckfriend.com/can-a-plane-land-automatically

589Futurism Magazine. “Wireless Charing Tech Lets Drones Stay Aloft Indefinitely.” K. Houser.
7 January, 2019. https://futurism.com/drone-charging-mid-flight

The Verge. “REL’s Skylon Spaceplane Aims to Take on SpaceX With a Reusable Rocket
590

Design.” J. Emspak. 8 March, 2016.

NASA. “Audacious & Outrageous: Space Elevators.” 7 September, 2000.

https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2000/ast07sep_1

591Background reading on the Kardashev Scale.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardashev_scale

592Background reading on the extensions to the original Kardashev Scale.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardashev_scale#Extensions_to_the_original_scale

Barrow, John (1998). Impossibility: Limits of Science and the Science of Limits. Oxford:
Oxford University Press. p. 133. ISBN 978-0198518907.

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593Background reading on the extensions to the original Kardashev Scale.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardashev_scale#Extensions_to_the_original_scale

Barrow, John (1998). Impossibility: Limits of Science and the Science of Limits. Oxford:
Oxford University Press. p. 133. ISBN 978-0198518907.

594Background reading on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html

595Space.com. “How many stars are in the Milky Way?” E. Howell. 30 March, 2018.
https://www.space.com/25959-how-many-stars-are-in-the-milky-way.html

596NASA. “Hubble Reveals Observable Universe Contains 10 Times More Galaxies Than
Previously Thought.” 13 October, 2016. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/hubble-
reveals-observable-universe-contains-10-times-more-galaxies-than-previously-thought

597Space.com. “How Many Stars Are In the Universe?” E. Howell. 18 May, 2017.
https://www.space.com/26078-how-many-stars-are-there.html

598Breakdown of the U.S. Federal Budget.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_budget

599Statista. “U.S. military spending from 2000 to 2018.”

https://www.statista.com/statistics/272473/us-military-spending-from-2000-to-2012/ (don’t
let link fool you, it goes to 2018).

600Brown University, Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs. “United States
Budgetary Costs and Obligations of Post-9/11 Wars through FY:2020.” N. Crawford. 13
November, 2019.
https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/files/cow/imce/papers/2019/US%20Budgetary%20Co
sts%20of%20Wars%20November%202019.pdf

Statista. “Total interest expense on debt held by the public of the United States from 2011 to
601

2018”. https://www.statista.com/statistics/246439/interest-expense-on-us-public-debt/

602Bloomberg. “F-35 Program Costs Jump to $406.5 Billion in Latest Estimate.”A. Capaccio. 10
July, 2017. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-10/f-35-program-costs-
jump-to-406-billion-in-new-pentagon-estimate

603Reuters / Associated Press. “U.S. Army fudged its accounts by trillions of dollars, auditor
finds.” 19 August, 2016. S. Paltrow. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-audit-army/u-s-
army-fudged-its-accounts-by-trillions-of-dollars-auditor-finds-idUSKCN10U1IG

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604PBS News Hour. “This is how Internet speed and price in the U.S. compares to the rest of the
world” H. Yi. 26 April, 2015. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/internet-u-s-compare-
globally-hint-slower-expensive

605 Forbes Magazine. “Holding U.S. Treasury’s?” Beware: Uncle Sam can’t account for $21
trillion.” L. Kotlikoff. 9 January, 2019.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kotlikoff/2019/01/09/holding-u-s-treasuries-beware-uncle-
sam-cant-account-for-21-trillion/

606United States Census. “Household Income: 2017.” G. Guzman. September, 2018.

https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2018/acs/acsbr17-01.pdf

607Tax Foundation. “The U.S. Tax Burden on Labor, 2019.” R. Bellafiore.

https://taxfoundation.org/us-tax-burden-on-labor-2019/. (Note: we use median figures for
income because the average is disproportionally skewed based on the ultra-wealthy, yet
use average tax basis because it’s applied evenly based on income from even IRS brackets,
and not all states have the same taxes nor tax rates, making average required for a national
analysis).

608In the United States, taxes tend to be aggregated in averages as tax rates vary wildly by
state and occupation. A self-employed person in coastal California would pay substantially
income higher taxes (base rate + 15.3% FICA + up to 12.3% CA income tax) than a W2
employee living in rural Washington State (base rate + 6.2% FICA + 0% income tax).
However, in terms of raw income, the average is disproportionally weighed higher due to
outlying wage earners (“the 1%”). However, average tax rates do not necessarily reflect
this as taxes are both paid on a progressive scale, which does not subject investment
income (capital gains) to the same taxes as wage income. Consequently, for ease of
explanation, it’s easiest and most accurate to use median income + average tax rates to
reflect the basis of the standard American household.

USA Today. “Cost of feeding a family of four: $146 to $289 a week.” N. Hellmich. 1 May,
609

2013. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/05/01/grocery-costs-for-
family/2104165/

610AAA Newsroom. “Your Driving Costs.” E. Edmonds. 12 September, 2018.

https://newsroom.aaa.com/auto/your-driving-costs/

611U.S. Department of Transportation. Federal Highway Administration. “Average Annual

Miles per Driver by Age Group.” 29 March, 2018.
https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/onh00/bar8.htm

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Energy Information Administration. “How much electricity does an American home use?”
612

Last updated: 2 October, 2019. https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=97&t=3

613Energy Information Administration. “Average Price of Electricity to Ultimate Customers.”

https://www.eia.gov/electricity/annual/html/epa_02_04.html

614Rocket Mortgage. “Are You Average? Here’s What The Typical U.S. Household Spends On
Utility Bills Each Year?” https://www.rockethq.com/learn/personal-finances/average-cost-
of-utilities

615Rocket Mortgage. “Are You Average? Here’s What The Typical U.S. Household Spends On
Utility Bills Each Year?” https://www.rockethq.com/learn/personal-finances/average-cost-
of-utilities

616Energy Information Administration. “Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey

(CBECS).” J. Michaels.
https://www.eia.gov/consumption/commercial/data/2012/

617Energy Information Administration. “Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey

(CBECS). Table E5. Electricity consumption (kWh) by end use, 2012” Released May, 2016.
https://www.eia.gov/consumption/commercial/data/2012/c&e/pdf/e5.pdf

618Energy Information Administration. “Average Price of Electricity to Ultimate Customers.”

https://www.eia.gov/electricity/annual/html/epa_02_04.html

619Energy Information Administration. “Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey

(CBECS). Table E8. Natural gas consumption and conditional energy intensities (cubic feet) by end
use, 2012” Released May, 2016.
https://www.eia.gov/consumption/commercial/data/2012/c&e/pdf/e8.pdf

620Bureau of Transportation Statistics. “Transportation Statistics Annual Report, 2018. Table 1-

1.” https://www.bts.dot.gov/sites/bts.dot.gov/files/docs/browse-statistical-products-and-
data/transportation-statistics-annual-reports/Preliminary-TSAR-Full-2018-a.pdf

621Statista. “U.S. motor gasoline and distillate fuel oil consumption by the transportation sector
from 1992 to 2018.” https://www.statista.com/statistics/189410/us-gasoline-and-diesel-
consumption-for-highway-vehicles-since-1992/

622Energy Information Administration. “Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update.” Figures accurate
as of November 5, 2019. https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/gasdiesel/

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623Forbes Magazine. “Why the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) Led to Buybacks Rather Than
Investment.” A. Knott. 21 February, 2019.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/annemarieknott/2019/02/21/why-the-tax-cuts-and-jobs-act-
tcja-led-to-buybacks-rather-than-investment/

624Minnesota Post. “History lessons: understanding the decline in manufacturing.” L. Johnson.

22 February, 2012. https://www.minnpost.com/macro-micro-minnesota/2012/02/history-
lessons-understanding-decline-manufacturing/

Reuters. “Haiti reconstruction cost may near $14 billion: IADB.” P. Fletcher. 16 February,
625

2010. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-quake-haiti-cost-idUSTRE61F43Z20100216

626Congressional Budget Office. “The Federal Budget in 2018.”

https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2019-06/55342-2018-budget.pdf

627U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. “President Trump Seeks $12B Increase in FY2019 VA
Budget to Support Nation’s Veterans.” 12 February, 2018.
https://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=4007

628Military Retirement Fund Audited Financial Report, Fiscal Year 2018.

https://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/Documents/afr/fy2018/DoD_Components/2018_
AFR_MRF.pdf

Congressional Research Service. “Energy and Water Development Appropriations: Nuclear

629

Weapons Activities.” 29 July, 2019. https://fas.org/sgp/crs/nuke/R44442.pdf

630Department of Homeland Security. “Administration's Fiscal Year 2018 Budget Request

Advances DHS Operations.” 23 May, 2017.
https://www.dhs.gov/news/2017/05/23/administrations-fiscal-year-2018-budget-request-
advances-dhs-operations

631Federation of American Scientists. “Intelligence Budget Data.” No update date provided.

https://fas.org/irp/budget/

632Brown University, Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs. “United States
Budgetary Costs and Obligations of Post-9/11 Wars through FY:2020.” N. Crawford. 13
November, 2019.
https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/files/cow/imce/papers/2019/US%20Budgetary%20Co
sts%20of%20Wars%20November%202019.pdf

Brown University, Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. “Costs of War.”
https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/costs/economic

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633War Resisters League. “U.S. Federal Budget 2020 Fiscal War – Where Your Income Tax
Money Really Goes.” https://www.warresisters.org/sites/default/files/fy2020pie_chart-
hi_resb.pdf

634Discover Policing. “Types of Law Enforcement Agencies.”

https://www.discoverpolicing.org/explore-the-field/types-of-law-enforcement-agencies/

635 United States Government Federal Register. https://www.federalregister.gov/agencies

636Background reading: United States Intelligence Community.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Intelligence_Community

Tax Foundation. “How High Are Cigarette Taxes in Your State?” J. Cammenga. 10 April,
637

2019. https://taxfoundation.org/2019-state-cigarette-tax-rankings/

638Tax Policy Center. “Key Elements of the U.S. Tax System.”

https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/what-are-major-federal-excise-taxes-and-
how-much-money-do-they-raise

639Forbes Magazine. “Which States Made the Most Tax Revenue From Marijuana in 2018?” N.
McCarthy. 26 March, 2019. https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2019/03/26/which-
states-made-the-most-tax-revenue-from-marijuana-in-2018-infographic/#733ad63e7085

Congressional Budget Office. “Increase All Taxes on Alcoholic Beverages to $16 per Proof
640

Gallon.” https://www.cbo.gov/budget-options/2013/44854

641J. Minron, Department of Economics, Harvard University. “The Budgetary Impacts of

Drug Prohibition.” February, 2010.
https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/miron/files/budget_2010_final_0.pdf

Energy Information Administration. “Sales of Electricity to Ultimate Customers – total by

642

end-use sector, 2005-2015.” https://www.eia.gov/electricity/annual/html/epa_02_05.html

National Renewable Energy Laboratory. “U.S. Solar Photovoltaic System Cost Benchmark:
643

QA, 2018.” R. Fu, D. Feldman, R. Margolis. https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy19osti/72399.pdf

644Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. “Report Confirms Wind Technology Advancements

Continue to Drive Down Wind Energy Prices.” J. Chao. 23 August, 2018.
https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2018/08/23/report-confirms-wind-technology-advancements-
continue-to-drive-down-wind-energy-prices/

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645Energy Information Administration. Table 6.07.B. Capacity Factors for Utility Scale
Generators Primarily Using Non-Fossil Fuels. August, 2019.
https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php?t=epmt_6_07_b

646 Hargreaves, Robert, PhD. “THORIUM: Energy Cheaper than Coal.” July 25, 2012. pp 220

647Energy Information Administration. Table 6.07.B. Capacity Factors for Utility Scale
Generators Primarily Using Non-Fossil Fuels. August, 2019.
https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php?t=epmt_6_07_b

648Oil & Gas Journal. “Crude Oil Pipeline Growth, Revenues Surge; Construction Costs Mount.”
http://www.ogj.com/articles/print/volume-112/issue-9/special-report-pipeline-
economics/crude-oil-pipeline-growth-revenues-surge-construction-costs-mount.html

649Scientific American. “How Much Water Do Nations Consume?” M. Fischetti. 21 May, 2012.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/graphic-science-how-much-water-nations-
consume/

650Torrent Engineering and Equipment. “Pipeline Volume Capacities.”

http://www.torrentee.com/pdf/Pipe_Volume_Capacity_Table_Jun-02.pdf

651Government of Michigan. Water tank prices and data per gallon.

https://www.michigan.gov/documents/Vol2-35UIP11Tanks_121080_7.pdf

652 Lucid Energy Corp. “How it works.” http://lucidenergy.com/how-it-works/

653 Lucid Energy Corp. “How it works.” http://lucidenergy.com/how-it-works/

654 U.S. Climate Data. https://www.usclimatedata.com/

655Marlow Engineering. “Technical Data Sheet for EHBMS.”

https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/547732/Data_Sheets/EHBMS.pdf

656Marlow Engineering. “Technical Data Sheet for EHBMS.”

https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/547732/Data_Sheets/EHBMS.pdf

657Background reading on Ras Al-Khair Power and Desalination Plant.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ras_Al-Khair_Power_and_Desalination_Plant

658Background reading on Ras Al-Khair Power and Desalination Plant.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ras_Al-Khair_Power_and_Desalination_Plant

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 The Next Giant Leap

Oxford Business Group. “Saudi Arabia Expands its Desalination Capacity.” No author or
659

date provided. https://www.oxfordbusinessgroup.com/analysis/world-leader-efforts-

under-way-expand-desalination-capacity

660The National magazine. “UAE’s Largest Power and Desalination Plant Opens at Jebel Ali.”
C. Simpson. 9 April, 2013. https://www.thenational.ae/uae/uae-s-largest-power-and-
desalination-plant-opens-at-jebel-ali-1.455481

661WaterWorld. “Dubai Opens UAE’s Largest Desalination Plant.” T. Freyberg. 9 April, 2013.
http://www.waterworld.com/articles/2013/04/dubai-opens-uaes-largest-desalination-
plant.html

662Power Engineering International. “Desalination: A First in Fujairah.” A. Hoel. 1 August,

2004. http://www.powerengineeringint.com/articles/print/volume-12/issue-
8/features/desalination-a-first-in-fujairah.html

663Energy Information Administration. “Cost and Performance Characteristics of New

Generating Technologies, Annual Energy Outlook 2017.” January, 2017.
https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/aeo/assumptions/pdf/table_8.2.pdf

664General Electric. “Tour a Combined Cycle Power Plant.”

https://powergen.gepower.com/resources/knowledge-base/combined-cycle-power-plant-
how-it-works.html

665 Background reading on overnight cost: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overnight_cost

666Department of Energy. “Current (2009) State-of-the-art Hydrogen Production Cost Estimate

Using Water Electrolysis.” 9 September, 2009.
https://www.hydrogen.energy.gov/pdfs/46676.pdf

667Background reading on factory gate price:

http://www.investorwords.com/9656/factory_gate_price.html

668Energy Information Administration. Frequently Asked Questions.

https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=23&t=10

669Background reading on energy density of gasoline:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_density

670Background reading on energy density of hydrogen:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_density

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671Department of Energy. Scientific Analysis. “Techno-economic Analysis of PEM electrolysis

for hydrogen production.” W. Colella. B. James. J. Moton. G. Saur. T. Ramsden. 27 February,
2014.
https://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2014/08/f18/fcto_2014_electrolytic_h2_wkshp_colella1.p
df#p10

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